The incident happened in Sakhi Hassan, Bufferzone when seven-year-old Maryam was sitting in the back seat of her family’s car.

A bullet hit suddenly the child in the head and she was rushed to a private hospital where she succumbed to her wounds.

The girl’s father said that he heard the sound of glass breaking and turned around to see that his daughter had been hit by a bullet.

He added that he saw two men running away when he looked around.

The police initially said the incident might have been caused by a stray bullet. However, later they learnt that there was a failed robbery attempt across the street.

A security guard at a restaurant fired a shot to ward off street robbers, who had already deprived people of mobile phones in nearby shops.

Police arrested the guard and seized his weapon.

Saifullah, the restaurant owner, said the guard had fired the shot into the ground and it was yet to be determined if his bullet hit the child.

The child’s body was moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medicolegal examination.