Lucknow, Oct 4 (IANS): Two brothers were shot dead here around midnight by a few unknown attackers, police said on Thursday. One person has been arrested.

Twenty four-year-old Imran Ghazi and his brother Arman, 22, along with friend Nishant were on their way home after purcahsing medicines for their ailing father, when they were attacked near Bamba road in Thakurganj.

The Ghazi family told Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani that the brothers had a verbal spat with some men a few days back.

One man identified as Saahil has been arrested. The police is on the lookout for the others.

Nishant, who survived the attack, said half-a-dozen assailants dragged the brothers out of the cab that Imran was driving.

They then beat them up with rods and sticks before shooting them dead at point blank range.

The friend somehow managed to escape and inform the Thakurganj police, who rushed to the spot only to find the two men lying in a pool of blood. The attackers had escaped by then.

The brothers were rushed to the Trauma Centre at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

A crowd had gathered at the crime scene raising anti-police slogans and demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.

The area was tense after the killing. Reinforcements from eight police stations were deployed in the old city area. There is also heavy deployment of police where the autopsy was to take place.