BAJAUR: Two people, including a trader, were killed after unidentified assailants opened fire on a vehicle they were travelling in through Inayat Kallay Bazaar here on Tuesday.

Police and traders said the incident occurred along the Bypass of Inayat Kallay Bazaar in the afternoon, when unknown gunmen attacked the vehicle of Ismail Khan Zargar, president of Nawagai Bazaar Traders Association, with automatic weapons.

They told Dawn that Ismail Zargar and his companion, Ajmal Khan, were seriously injured in the attack and were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar.

However, according to hospital sources, both succumbed to their injuries at the hospital’s emergency department during treatment.

Confirming the incident, Mansoor Khan, a spokesperson for the district police, told Dawn that the car was about to be parked near a shop when the attackers opened fire on Zargar, 42, and his companion Ajmal Khan, 38.

He said a police team deputed at Inayat Kallay Bazaar rushed to the scene after hearing gunfire, but the attackers had already fled the scene.

A team from Lowi Sam police station also reached the crime scene and launched efforts to trace the attackers.

The police official, however, said an investigation had begun to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the attack.

Traders of Nawagai Bazaar told Dawn that Ismail Zargar was associated with the jewellery business.

Family sources and his friends told Dawn that Zargar was the only brother of 11 sisters.

They said Ismail Zargar was an active leader of the business community.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A large number of people reached the hospital to protest the killing.

Meanwhile, traders of Nawagai Bazaar shut their businesses in protest against the killing.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026