ISLAMABAD, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen Sunday shot dead five people including a former district official in northwestern Pakistan, according to local TV reports.

    Former mayor of the Lower Dir district of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Alamzeb Khan and police officer Haji Khurshid were among the five killed in the firing, according to the private Geo TV.

    The report said that the armed men also took two police officers and a bank manager as hostages.

    The incident occurred when police were trying to rescue the abducted people.

    Bodies of the deceased have been shifted to a local hospital.