KHAR, Sept 21: Five people were killed when gunmen ambushed two cars in Mamad Kot area along the border between Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies on Thursday night.

Officials said the assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers stopped the cars on a road near Mamad Kot and opened fire on the inmates, killing two men in one vehicle and injuring three in the other. After the attack, the gunmen set fire to the car carrying the injured.

Local people alleged that the victims belonged to a gang involved in robberies, car snatching and other crimes. All the five men hailed from the Mohmand Agency’s Safe tribe. Two of them were identified as Khan Jan and Abdullah Khan. The three charred bodies could not be identified.

Villagers of Mamad Kot said the five gangsters had snatched a car from the relatives of the assailants a few weeks ago and demanded ransom for returning it.

Meanwhile, an Afghan homeo-physician was gunned down near Beelot in Mamond tehsil. Sources said Roohullah, who had run a homoeopathic medicines’ shop in the Mamond area for the past 15 years, was going home on this motorcycle when some men intercepted him. They snatched the motorcycle from him and shot him dead when he resisted.