MARDAN, June 21: A woman seeking divorce was gunned down by her husband inside a courtroom here on Thursday.  

A court official, a lady constable and two other people also suffered bullet injuries when the accused opened fire on his estranged wife, who had come to the court for dissolution of their marriage, police said.

They said that the victim, Lalzia Bibi, was present inside the family court when her husband Hazir Zaman attacked and killed her on the spot.

The injured included family court reader Asif Haroon, lady constable Nighat and two other people Ghaniur Rehman and Mohammad Yousaf. The police officials present on the occasion overpowered the alleged killer.  Eyewitnesses told Dawn that the alleged killer was accompanied by two other accomplices who fled the scene after the incident. The city police station has registered an FIR against the accused on the report of Aqeel Ahmad, a staffer of the family court.

Meanwhile, lawyers of District Bar Association, Mardan, boycotted court proceedings and held an emergency meeting to condemn the killing of a woman inside the courtroom. The lawyers demanded of the district administration to chalk out a foolproof security plan to ensure protection of people and lawyers inside district courts.

KILLED FOR HONOUR: A man allegedly killed his wife in an honour-related incident in Kalo Shah locality in the limits of Kharki police station here on Thursday.

The police said that the woman, identified as Uzma, was killed when her husband Sher Akbar and his brothers Mir Akbar and Noor Akbar attacked her.

According to preliminary investigation, the police said that the victim had married Sher Akbar a few months ago, but she fled with another person. Later, she was recovered from Faisalabad when her father filed a kidnapping report with the police.

The police have registered an FIR against the accused on the compliant of Jan Nawab, father of the slain woman.

In another incident, an official of Anbar Campus of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Asif Khan was shot dead by unidentified men on the night between Wednesday and Thursday near the railway station.

Family sources said that someone had called Mr Khan in the evening after which he went out of his home by saying that he would return in one or two hours.

The city police have registered a report against unidentified killers on the complaint of Sajid Khan, brother-in-law of the victim.

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