LAHORE: Three people, including a passerby, were shot dead while another passerby was injured when a group of rivals opened fire at them near Lady Willingdon Hospital on Saturday.

Rana Ayub, a property dealer, and his brother Shakoor along with seven other people were riding motorcycles to appear in the court over a property-related case when their rival, Malik Naeem, along with his eight accomplices opened fire at them.

Ayub, Shakoor and two passersby -Hafiz Ashiq, a seminary teacher of Badami Bagh, and Aamir Khan, of Vehari -suffered bullet wounds. The suspectsnedthescene.

The injured were taken to the Mayo Hospital where Ayub, Shakoor andAshig were declared dead on arrival while Amir was said to be stable.

The police cordoned off the area, collected forensic evidence and recorded statements of witnesses.

A case was registered against seven nominated and four unidentified people.

Rana Farooq, brother of Ayub, told Dawn they were attacked near Azadi Chowk. He said his two brothers and a passerby died at the scene while another passerby was injured. He said the suspects were land grabbers and had occupied their house illegally.

City Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Adil Memon told Dawn that initial investigation suggested that the victims and the suspects were property dealers and had a dispute over theownership of a house in Barkat Town.

He said the people were killed over a property dispute while the suspects were involved in a number of criminal cases in various police stations, including two in Shahdara and one in Islampura and more than a dozen in Ferozewala police.

He said the suspects reportedly wanted to avenge their brother-in-law Abdul Rauf`s death, who had died of a cardiac arrest when his son was implicated in a case. The SP said the suspects` houses were locked.

A case under section 7 of anti terrorism act, 302, 324, 148, 149 of Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Rana Farooq was registered against Naeem, Nadeem, Adeel, Waqas, Shan, Majid and Sajid and four unidentified people.-Reporter