Eight more gunned down in Karachi
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque
Monday, 02 Aug, 2010
Two Awami National Party workers and an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement were also among the dead.—
KARACHI: At least eight people, including an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and two Awami National Party workers, were gunned down in separate incidents of targeted killings as the violence that had erupted on Saturday following an arson attack on an MQM office spread to other parts of the defunct East and West districts of the city on Sunday.
Tension prevailed in parts of Orangi Town amid rattle of gunfire and spread to Shah Faisal Colony, Model Colony and adjoining areas of Malir where businesses were closed following the targeted killing of the MQM worker in Azeempura within the remit of the Al-Falah police station on Sunday evening.
Police said the MQM worker, Jamil Khanzada, was targeted shortly after he had visited the Azeempura graveyard in the evening.
They said two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on Khanzada as he stepped out of the graveyard and sped away. The victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An MQM spokesman said the victim was a former councillor of UC-5 of Shah Faisal Town. A couple of hours later, two ANP activists were shot dead in Model Colony.
The area police said that 40-year-old Wazeer Khan alias Wazeerzada and 20-year-old Tahir Punjabi were standing outside a snooker club near Komal Ground when they were sprayed with bullets by unidentified motorcyclists.
The victims were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where they died, the police said.
An ANP spokesman said both the victims were party workers. Wazeer Khan was area president of the ANP, he added.
The killings were followed by heavy gunfire that forced people to stay indoors and markets’ closure in Malir and Shah Faisal Colony.
A 13-year-old boy was wounded when a stray bullet hit him in Shah Faisal Colony. He was shifted to the JPMC for medical treatment.
The police said the situation turned precarious with the killing of a senior ANP worker on Friday followed by an arson attack on the MQM office in the Abidabad area on Saturday. Frequent exchanges of fire had been reported during the last couple of days in different localities.
In the early hours of Sunday, four passers-by — Abdul Munim, Farhan, Israr and Javed — were wounded in the crossfire between two rival groups near Kati Pahari within the remit of the Orangi Town police station.
The wounded victims were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where 40-year-old Abdul Munim died. He was a resident of Nazimabad 3.
In Sector A-3 of Baldia Town, 35-year-old Mohammad Iqbal was found shot dead near a furniture shop within the remit of the Saeedabad police station.
The killing was carried out after 4am, the police said, adding that there was no eyewitness to the incident. The body was moved to the Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination where doctors said he suffered a bullet wound in the head.
The police said a case (FIR673/2010) had been registered on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Tariq. The victim originally hailed from Faisalabad.
In Nusrat Bhutto Colony, a cloth trader was found shot dead at a desolate place within the remit of the Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan police station.
Area SHO Amir Lashari said: “Shaukat Ali, 34, was found shot dead at a desolate place near Tohid mosque in the early morning. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.” The victim suffered a gunshot wound in the head, he added.
The victim was married and had a cloth shop in the area. A case (FIR 493/2010) was registered at the Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan police station against unknown men on the complaint of the victim’s uncle, Mohammad Momin.
An unidentified man was found shot dead at a desolate place near the Malir rive embankment on Sunday.
The Korangi Industrial Area police said the trussed-up body with visible marks of torture and bullet wounds on it was shifted to the JPMC for a post-mortem examination. The body was later taken to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.
Earlier, a passer-by was targeted by armed men riding a motorcycle in Gulshan-i-Bihar, where he had gone to visit his uncle.
Alam Zeb was wounded in the firing carried out within the remit of the Pakistan Bazaar police station. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, the police said.
In the Aligarh Bazaar area, some ANP workers sitting outside a shop were sprayed with bullets late on Saturday night.
The police said that Naveedur Rehman, Imran and Aziz suffered bullet wounds and were rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi for treatment.
The ANP spokesman described the condition of the wounded workers as stable.
The police said two people were wounded when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at a teashop in Orangi Town.
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