KARACHI - Gunmen and arsonists went on the rampage in Karachi on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and setting dozens of vehicles alight. More than 15 persons, some of them are stated to be in critical condition, were also injured in the violence.
The killing spree started when some gunmen along their alleged gang leader Ahmed Ali Magsi barged into the house of MQM sector member Mansoor Mukhtar in the PIB Colony and resorted indiscriminate fire, resulting in his on the spot death. His brother Maqsood Mukhtar was also killed in the attack, whose wife Uzma sustained bullet injuries.
It triggered violence in the city, as enraged youth set ablaze more than 45 vehicles, including police mobiles, bringing the life to a standstill in the economic engine of the country.
According to PIB SHO Chaudhry Saeed Akhtar, around a dozen unidentified armed men entered into the house (22/2-G) located in Press Quarter around 5:45am.
The victims were rushed to a private hospital where doctors pronounced Mansoor as dead while his brother succumbed to his wounds during treatment.
Locals say armed roamed freely in the neighbourhood. Earlier, a MQM worker Kamran alias Kami was gunned down and a sympathiser Yousaf shot injured in Essa Nagri in separate incidents.
They said the law enforcement agencies vanished from the area when the gunmen killed Mukhtar, adding that Ahmed Ali was nominated in several murder and extortion cases.
Later, enraged mob set a police mobile (PS-3055) on fire and also pelted stones at police personnel.
In other areas, rival political groups exchanged gunfire and another MQM worker Abdul Rashid and a citizen Muhammad Ali were killed in Qasba Colony and Pakistan Bazaar areas respectively.
Armed men intercepted a passenger bus at Sector 5-A/1 of Khawaja Ajmair Nagri and killed the driver Shahzad Mehsud, a resident of Manghopir, while a rickshaw driver Jalal Habib was gunned down near Novelty Cinema in Jamshed Quarter.
Two innocent people Rizwan Fazal and Zardad Gull, a pushcart vendor, were gunned down near Singer Chorangi and Azizabad respectively.
In the Baloch Colony area, miscreant resorted to firing to force the shopkeepers for close commercial activities when a bullet hit Azam Hussain who died on the way to hospital.
An eight-year-old child was killed and two others wounded reportedly when Rangers personnel opened fire in Landhi. Police say Rangers resorted to aerial fire to control miscreants near Landhi 89, adding that the boy was killed were wounded by the culprits who escaped in a black Toyota Corolla car.
Separately, 30-year-old Ismail Khan was shot dead at Millat Morr in Malir, but police claim that personal enmity is the motive behind the incident.
Three women passengers of a bus and a passer-by received bullet wounds in Baldia Town.
Four passers-by, including women, were wounded in Orangi Town, Yousuf Plaza, Hassan Square and Essa Nagri.
Arsonists also torched some 42 vehicles in Abbas Town, Al-Noor Society, Qaddafi Chowk, Orangi Town, Nursery Bridge, Landhi, Korangi, Malir and Saudabad.
Police high-ups have suspended the SHO PIB Colony and registered a case against Ahmed Ali and his accomplices. Law enforcers also claimed to have captured over dozen miscreants from different areas and started surgical operation for more arrests.

Agencies add: Incidents of violence were also reported from other Sindh’s other cities including Hyderabad, Sukkur and Nawabshah as MQM observed mourning over the killing of its sector commander and his brother.
“Our hospitals have received a total of nine bodies of victims from firing incidents. They include an MQM member and his brother,” said doctors at a hospital.
“We have been keeping Karachi peaceful for a long time and such incidents have been perpetrated by those who don’t want to see our country stable and peaceful,” party spokesman Wasay Jaleel said.
Managements of private schools announced the closure of all educational institutions due to deteriorating law and order situation in the city.
Markets remained shut and unidentified people resorted to firing in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Nawabshah as MQM observed mourning day.
Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan took the notice of killing of people, setting ablaze of vehicles and violence in the city and constituted three-member committee to probe into the incidents.
Meanwhile, speaking in Islamabad, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said his ministry had placed the name of Ahmed Ali, member of banned Lyari Aman Committee, on the Exit Control List (ECL) along with four others after the MQM had accused him of murdering their workers.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, Malik said action would be taken against criminal elements in Karachi, saying that a joint team comprising ISI, IB, FIA and Special Branch would investigate the killing of Mansoor Mukhtar and would submit the initial report within 48 hours. “A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had been formed which included members of different agencies to investigate the killing of MQM activist in the light of FIR being registered by the MQM,” Malik reasserted.