Panic and tension gripped parts of Hyderabad when a suspected terrorist opened fire injuring two policemen in the old city area on Wednesday.

The Hyderabad city police commissioner B Prasad Rao said that the incident occurred when a team of policemen had gone to arrest one Viqar Ahmad, a suspected militant, in Santoshnagar area. "When the police was returning with him, he opened fire from a shotgun injuring two policemen", he said.

One head constable Guru Ramaraju was seriously injured as the bullet hit him in the abdomen, the other head constable Mohammed Jaffer was hit in the right hand. Both the injured have been admitted to the Apollo Hospital where the condition of Ramaraju was stated to be critical.

Prasad Rao said that Viqar Ahmad fired three rounds and managed to escape from the scene. Police suspected that there were three or four others with him and a manhunt has been launched for him. He left behind the country made weapon and a scooter behind.

According to the police Viqar Ahmad was a member of a fundamentalist organisation Darasgah-e-Jihad-o-Shahadat and was absconding for more than one and a half year. The police also suspect that he had links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

The commissioner said that the police was put on high alert and a search was on for Ahmad.