KARACHI - At least four more people, among them an activist of the Awami National Party, were gunned down in different neighbourhoods in the metropolis on Sunday, raising the death toll to 37 in six straight days of violence.
Shooting sprees and arson attacks triggered in the city last Tuesday with the pre-dawn killing of senior MQM activist Mansoor Mukhtar and his brother at their PIB Colony residence. Fifteen workers and supporters of both the MQM and the ANP have been killed since, besides 22 those who did not have any political affiliation.
In the worst incident on Sunday, two men were found dead in the jurisdiction of the Jamshed Quarters Police Station. Bodies of the victims were recovered from an empty plot near Karachi Central Prison. Police officials suspected that the victims, 26-year-old Zakir, son of Ameeruddin and Fahim, 27, son of Abdul Hameed, might have been abducted and killed by unidentified gunmen. Their hands and feet were tied up with ropes. According to a police official, Fahim was alive when recovered. He succumbed to his injuries at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Separately, unidentified gunmen, riding a motorcycle, killed a 26-year-old ANP activist, namely Ameerullah, son of Roshan Khan. He was heading towards his residence in Frontier Colony, Orangi, after attending a wedding in Saeedabad area. He was cab driver by profession.
Separately, unidentified attackers shot dead a fruit vendor at his house in New Karachi in the limits of the Bilal Colony Police Station. He was identified as Akmal, 26. Investigators were unable to ascertain the motive behind the killing. No case was registered till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, the Orangi Town police claimed to have detained seven suspects in connection with the killing of three MQM supporters on Banaras Flyover. Police officials said the raid was conducted on the basis of intelligence reports. They said the detainees were being questioned now.
Nevertheless, an alleged Lyari gangster, Saqib Khan, was killed during a search operation in Chakiwara locality. A kalashnikov and a 9mm pistol were seized from him. An assistant sub-inspector, namely Waheed, was also hurt in the exchange of fire. According to Anti Extremist Cell chief SSP Chaudhry Aslam Khan, Saqib Khan was a close aide of the banned People’s Amn Committee leader Uzair Baloch. His associate Kashif had also been arrested, added the SSP. Despite the deployment of rangers and police personnel, panic continues to haunt residents of Orangi Town, however.