LAHORE -
A leader of the Sunni Tehrik was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Tibbi City area on Friday, police said.
Khurum Raza Qadri, 45, was on his way home in an auto-rickshaw after leading Friday prayers at the Begum Shahi Masjid Moti Bazaar when two gunmen riding on a Honda-125 motorcycle intercepted the three-wheeler near Food Street in the limits of Tibbi City police station.
“The gunmen pumped five bullets into the body of Qadri, who died on-the-spot because of excessive bleeding,” replied Faheem, an on-duty police official at the Tibbi City police station when contacted.
The motorcyclists, said to be masked men, ensured his on-the-spot death and fled away instantly. Police sources said that the killers only targeted Qadri with automatic weapons and did not even threaten or harm the rickshaw driver.
Fear and terror gripped the entire locality as the gun assault in broad daylight forced many people to run towards safer place.
A good number of followers of the religious leader gathered outside his Samanabad residence soon after the incident and staged protest demonstration against the killing, demanding immediate arrest of the killers. Investigators believe that the motive behind the brazen and preplanned gun attack could be sectarian though the police are investigating the killing keeping in view various aspects of the happening.