BAHAWALPUR Two people were killed and seven others injured when masked gunmen attacked a mosque in Bahawalpur on Saturday morning.

According to eyewitnesses, the imam of Satellite Town's Masjid Al Qamar was holding Dars-i-Quran in the courtyard when a motorcycle carrying three masked men pulled up outside the mosque at around 5.45am.

One of them stayed behind, one entered the courtyard while the third went upstairs and opened fire on people attending the Dars. The attackers escaped.

Abdul Majid Qureshi, a homoeopath, died on the spot and Jamil, a landlord, succumbed to wounds in the Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

Two of the injured were in critical condition.

Talking to Dawn, district police chief Babar Bakht Qureshi said it appeared that local people had carried out the terrorist attack with revolvers or pistols.

A large number of protesters blocked the city's main artery, set tyres on fire and chanted slogans against police and the local administration.

Shops in the city's commercial area were closed after the attack. Enraged people also took to the streets in several other areas of the city.

The Jamaat-i-Islami took out a procession from Al Haq mosque to Farid Gate.

Representatives of the traders' association called for the arrest of the assailants within three days.