LAHORE, April 29: The string of a stray kite left a four-year-old girl dead and her elder brother injured near the sessions courts on Sunday.

An investigation officer of the Islampura police station told Dawn that both the children were sitting on the petrol tank of the motorcycle their father, Sheikh Tahir Saddiq of Santnagar, was driving.

He said Mr Siddique was taking his children and servant Bahar to Gulshan-i-Iqbal for recreation.

Mr Siddique’s family, the policeman said, encountered the killer string when they were coming out of a petrol pump’s area near the session courts.

The string cut Amna’s throat and blood started gushing out, the policeman quoted Mr Siddique as saying. Hamza (6), sitting behind Amna, also received an injury on his hand due to the string cut.

Amna was rushed to a nearby hospital where she died from over-bleeding.

According to the policeman, people were flying kites in the Punjab University Ground near the MAO College when the string trapped the children.

Amna’s mother with her in-laws and another daughter Maham was in Sialkot to attend a wedding ceremony at the time of the incident.

Mr Siddique refused autopsy of her daughter.

This was the second string-related casualty in the city in three days. Earlier, a youth, Tanveer, was injured in Nawankot.

AERIAL FIRING: Three pedestrians, including a couple, received injuries when some participants of a marriage party resorted to aerial firing in Wasanpura Shadbagh here on Sunday.

Police said Sarwar, 45, his wife Maryam, 38, and another woman sustained injuries by the firing of friends of groom Nadeem. The injured were rushed to hospital.

The bridegroom, his father and people involved in the firing managed their escape.