Three young cricketers shot dead in Pakistan's Lakki Marwat district

Three members of a local cricket team have been killed and three others injured when unidentified armed men opened fire on a loader rickshaw near Abdul Khel after the group returned from a cricket match in Shah Hasan Khel in Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, police said.

Three of the occupants, identified as Umer, Siddiq and Aliyan, were killed on the spot, while three others - Asifullah, Imdadullah and Ejaz - sustained bullet wounds in the attack.

Police said most of the victims were either cricket players or members of a local peace committee. The incident caused panic in the area, while residents rushed to the scene following the firing.

Police officials said that after the initial attack, some local youths present in the area returned fire at the assailants. They said there were reports that one of the attackers had been killed in the exchange of fire.

However, police said the identity of the alleged attacker could not immediately be established, and the report of his death had yet to be independently confirmed.

The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, while the bodies of the deceased were also taken to the hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Hospital spokesperson Wali Khan confirmed that three bodies and three injured people had been brought to the hospital following the incident. He said the injured were being provided medical treatment, while the bodies had been kept at the hospital for completion of medico-legal formalities.

Following the incident, a heavy contingent of police reached the area and cordoned it off. A search operation was launched to trace the attackers and determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Police said further investigation was under way and that details about the motive for the attack and the identity of those responsible would be established after completion of the investigation.

The incident came amid heightened security concerns in parts of Bannu, where tensions had recently escalated in the mountainous Hathi Khel area of Wazir subdivision.