HYDERABAD: Two men belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra community, both cousins, were gunned down and another was injured in two incidents of target killings – first ever in the city as far as the community is concerned – on Saturday night.

SHO of Cantonment police station Razaq confirmed that Shabbir and his cousin, Murtaza, died, while Murtaza’s brother Hatim received bullet wounds near former Rahat cinema in separate attacks.

“They were fired in their faces by the assailants and died instantly,” said Ali Asghar, maternal nephew of Shabbir. He said that Hatim, who was fired upon in the remit of City police station, was being operated upon.

Murtaza was a snack seller and ran his business at main Saddar Bazaar, near Askari Bank, in the jurisdiction of Cantonment police station.

“They (assailants) came on motorcycles from Saddar Bazaar side and fled towards Hajji Shah mazar chowk,” said a dry fruit seller, who sold his goods near the stall of Murtaza.

But Hyderabad police denied that these were target killings.