7 dead in firing in Pakistan's Rawalpindi

At least seven people were killed in firing incidents in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi shortly after miscreants attacked a mosque and shops Friday evening, hospital and police sources said. Unidentified men torched the mosque and a cloth market in busy Raja Bazar area of Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. Violence broke out when Shiite mourners were taking out processions in the city under tight security. Troops were called out to restore peace as the police and the paramilitary soldiers were unable to deal with the miscreants. Some witnesses said that several participants in the procession started firing after people on the rooftops fired in the air. Doctors at the city's main hospital confirmed seven people dead and over 30 others injured. Some media reported that 10 people were killed. Some angry participants in the procession also beat press photographers and cameramen and broke their cameras, media groups said. Police officers were also beaten and some miscreants reportedly snatched guns from some of the police officers. Troops evacuated people from the mosque and the marketplace and shifted them to safe places. Fire fighters were called to control the blaze at the cloth market. Witnesses said that fire gutted nearly 100 shops. Some participants in the Shiite procession said that when they reached Raja Bazaar area, some unidentified persons threw stones at the procession and later people at a nearby building started firing from the rooftop. The firing created panic among the people and they started running to safe places. Participants in the procession also started firing that turned the situation worse. Paramilitary soldiers and police intervened to stop firing but they failed to control the situation. The local authorities sought help from the army and troops later took positions and restored normalcy.