THE first election-related violence in Islamabad and Rawalpindi claimed five lives and left three people wounded on the busy Islamabad Highway here on Thursday afternoon.

Assailants used sophisticated weapons to attack a rally of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) which was heading towards the Kuri Road from the Kural Chowk.

The firing reportedly started when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was about to reach the intersection where hundreds of PML-N leaders, workers and supporters had gathered to welcome him. The PML leader was coming from Gujar Khan after addressing a public meeting. Mr Sharif was scheduled to reach the intersection at 2:30pm, police said.

An altercation took place when PML-N supporters tried to put up election banners near the house of a PML-Q candidate for NA-49, Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, about a kilometre from the chowk.

Dozens of people reportedly came out of Mr Khokar’s house and intercepted the PML-N workers and tore the banners. The activists clashed after a brief exchange of harsh words.

At around 2:30pm, when vehicles in the PML-N rally tried to move towards the Kural Chowk, people inside Mr Khokar’s house allegedly started firing in the air and later targeted the vehicles.

The firing continued for more than half an hour.

Eight people injured in the firing were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and the Federal Government Services Hospital and five of the dead were identified as Imran Azram, Omer Qayyam, Shahid Azram, Tariq Mehmood and Afzal Hanif. The condition of three others – Omer Nawaz, Abdul Sattar and Muzafar – is said to be critical.

Police personnel posted at the place said people inside Mr Khokar’s house had started the firing, adding that they had heard the sound of only one gunshot or a firecracker from the direction of the PML-N’s rally.

Police quoted PML-Q leaders as claiming that two of the dead belonged to their party.

Statements of leaders and workers of the two parties were being recorded, and according to the police, both sides accused each other of initiating the violence.

Separate cases are likely to be lodged against the PML-Q and the PML-N, police said.

Hundreds of vehicles were stuck on both lanes of the Islamabad Highway for more than two hours after the incident.

The flight of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was scheduled to return to his country at about the same time, was delayed because of the violence and the traffic jam on the Islamabad highway.

Later, he was flown to the airport in a helicopter.