Woman, daughter gunned down in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: In a targeted assault, three persons, including two women, were killed when two gunmen sprayed their car with bullets in broad daylight at a busy road of Sector F-10 near McDonald’s roundabout on Tuesday morning, police sources said.

The victims were rushed to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) with multiple bullet injuries, but they expired before being provided any medical aid. The deceased were identified as Najma Bibi, 40, her daughter Sidra Mehtab, 18, and driver Mohammad Nazir, 28. The woman and her daughter were going to their house in Sector G-11 after a hearing in the District and Sessions Court, Islamabad.

Sources in police told ‘The News’ that Najma Bibi and her young daughter Sidra Mehtab were coming back home after attending proceedings in the district courts in a luxury car bearing registration number (SS-149-ICT) driven by Mohammad Nazir, belonging to Balochistan. Two gunmen, riding a white Suzuki Cultus, intercepted their car near the Sector F-10 roundabout. The two men, carrying automatic weapons, opened fire on their car aiming at Najma Bibi, Sidra Mehtab and Mohammad Nazir and escaped from the scene. Police said that the attackers fired more than 50 bullets at their targets in about a 30-second episode and drove away towards Sector G-9. The assailants were, however, not identified.

The police spokesman said that Najma Bibi got divorce from her husband a few years back after a conflict developed between them. The investigators claimed that the lead goes to the ex-husband of Najma Bibi identified as Sardar Ameer Khan belonging to Attock. He is a key leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Attock district. He was a candidate for the PPP in the 2008 general elections.

Police said that Najma Bibi was facing life threats from her ex-husband and she had lodged an FIR (Number 496/11) under Section 324 PPC with the Shalimar Police Station in July 2011, saying that her ex-husband would be responsible for her murder, if any attempt would be made on her life. While her ex-husband booked her in a case registered with the Attock Police Station.

Police said that Sardar Ameer Khan got an interim bail from the court of district and sessions judge, Islamabad, and he had to appear before the court for confirmation of the bail, but he did not show up in the court for hearing, while Najma was present in the court along with her daughter Sidra.

The police investigators believed that the assailants chased them from the district courts and intercepted them in Sector F-10. The people, who witnessed the episode, told police that the attack was so sudden and nippy that passersby could not even move towards the scene and attackers fled away after accomplishing their task in not more than 30 seconds. “The gunmen were so accurate that their firing did not injure any passerby,” police said.

Police claimed that shortly after getting information of the incident, the Shalimar Police reached the spot and rushed the three victims to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where they succumbed to their injuries. However the eyewitnesses denied the claim, saying that the passersby shifted the injured persons, who had died on the spot, to the PIMS.

SP (Sadar) Sajid Kiani, when contacted by this correspondent, said that police have identified the people behind the killing and they would be arrested within 24 hours. He said that teams have been sent to the places where suspects would be hiding.

The original article can be found at The News.

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