KARACHI – No less than nine people, including a cleric, were killed in targeted attacks in the ongoing violence in the provincial metropolis on Thursday, police officials said.A cleric from Deoband sect was gunned down in an ambush within the remit of the SITE Police Station. The officials said unidentified gunmen attacked Maulana Abdul Rehman, 45, as soon as he stepped out of the mosque after saying morning prayers. The cleric sustained two bullets and died while being ferried to a nearby hospital. The body was handed over to the heirs after autopsy. The police officials suspected that it might be a sectarian killing. Separately, a banker was shot and killed by two unidentified men in SITE area. Identified as Naeem Gondal, 40, the victim was heading towards his office on a motorbike, when the attackers opened fire on him. The injured was ferried to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors declared him as brought dead. Investigators could not ascertain the motive behind the murder until the filing of this report. In another incident, body of a young man, later identified as Asif Ghafar, 23, was recovered from a garbage dump in Usmanabad area. The officials said the victim, an employee of the Karachi Zoological Garden, was on his way back home, when unidentified abductors took him captive and later killed him. The officials suspected that the victim might have links with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Separately, a bandit succumbed to his wounds at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), after being caught and beaten along with his accomplice by a mob in Landhi area over killing a customer in a firing at a sweets shop. Condition of the other bandit was stated to be critical. The officials said that after getting hold of the two miscreants, the mob gave them beating until the time a police party turned up. The man killed at the sweets shop was identified as 35-year-old Shakir Noor, a resident of Korangi. He sustained gunshot wounds when the bandits opened fire on owner of the shop over his resistance to be robbed, added the officials. Separately, officials of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), namely Wahid Bux and Abid Rizvi, were wounded by unidentified gunmen within the remit of the Jauharabad police station. The CID officials came under the attack when they raided block 14 of FB Area on a tip-off, but they themselves fell prey. As a result of the firing by the culprits, both the CID men sustained crucial gunshot wounds. The wounded officials were shifted to a hospital for treatment. In another targeted attack, four unidentified bike-borne gunmen killed two policemen heading towards the Garden Police Headquarters on a motorcycle. The victims were identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Munir and Head Constable Abdul Hafiz. Both the policemen were stationed at the Pak Colony Police Station.Separately, a rickshaw driver, namely Naveed Abbasi, was mowed down within the remit of the Rizvia Police Station. The police officials said the victim was sitting in his rickshaw near Pital Gali, Golimar, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on him and fled. The injured driver was ferried to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he breathed his last. The motive behind the killing could not be ascertained till the filing of this report. Meanwhile, residents shot dead an alleged bandit on Abul Hassan Ispahani Road within the precincts of the Mobina Town Police Station.The police officials said that two bandits were busy looting people when a group of locals intercepted them. This resulted in an exchange of fire, in which one of the bandits of killed. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.