Gun attack at Islamabad hospital kills two

A brazen gun attack at the leading hospital in Pakistan's capital Islamabad left one person dead and two others wounded on Friday, an official said.

Officials said the incident was a private feud and unrelated to Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence that plagues the northwest and which has been blamed for high-profile attacks in recent years on Western targets in Islamabad.

The shots were fired outside the gate of the emergency ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), which is in the centre of Islamabad.

"One person has died," city administrator Amir Ahmed Ali said.

"One group fired at the other when they were off-loading two injured persons at the hospital's emergency gate.... One attacker has also been arrested while the others have been identified," he said.

Doctor Waseem Khawaja, spokesman for PIMS, had said that three people were wounded when a gunman opened fire with a pistol on his rivals at the hospital.

"This appears to be the result of a family feud. All staff are safe," the spokesman said.

The hospital is the largest in Islamabad and busy round the clock. It has a large casualty department and deals with crime and accident-related cases turned away by private hospitals.

Police linked the incident to a shooting between rival groups in Tarlai village in which up to two people were wounded.

Islamabad has been shielded from much of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence that affects the country's northwest, although bombings have targeted embassies, hotels and restaurants.