KARACHI, April 9: Two more workers of the Pakistan People’s Party were killed on Monday by armed assailants riding motorbikes in the continuing targeted killings in the city, raising the death toll of PPP workers gunned down in nine days to eight, three of them in a single incident.

One of the two PPP activists was shot dead by armed intruders while he was sitting in the school he owned. Syed Mukhtiar Shah, 35, was present in the office of the BK English Grammar School in Baldia Town’s Sector 9, A-1 within the remit of the Saeedabad police station when at least three armed men riding two motorcycles pulled up outside the school, the police said.

Two of the suspects entered the school and fired several gunshots at Mukhtiar Shah killing him on the spot, they added.

They then came out and rode away, the police said, adding that the gunfire sound and killing left the children and female teachers at the school in shock and some of them started screaming hysterically.

The victim’s body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for legal formalities.

The police found six spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol at the crime-scene. They quoted the victim’s brother, Fayyaz, as saying that while two of the armed men entered the school, the third one stayed outside until his accomplices came out after killing Mukhtiar Shah.

The victim, who hailed from Abbottabad, was stated to be an active PPP worker belonging to the west district of the party’s organisational setup.

Soon after his killing, tension gripped several localities of Baldia Town.

PPP Karachi division’s deputy general secretary Arshad Naqvi described the persistent targeted killings of party workers as a conspiracy to disturb the city peace.

“It seems that some quarters are not happy over the development work being undertaken by the PPP’s Karachi division,” said Mr Naqvi. However, he said, eliminating PPP workers could not stop the party from continuing the uplift work.

In the other incident, armed men riding a motorcycle attacked two PPP activists on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road within the remit of the Mobina Town police station in the evening.

The police said the activists were travelling in a yellow cab bearing registration number PL 2071.

They said the victims, Younis Pathan, 28, and Zaid Khan, 25, suffered multiple bullet wounds in the attack and were rushed to a nearby private hospital. However, Younis Pathan died during treatment, they added.

Area SHO Idrees Bangash said the deceased was the resident of Metroville-I and father of three. He was an active worker of the PPP Malir district.

The police officer said the two PPP activists came under attack while they were returning home after attending the soyem of the People’s Students Federation worker Saeed Hassan, who was killed within the remit of the same police station on Friday night.

Younis Pathan hailed from Peshawar and was associated with his father in his transport business.

Many localities in and around Scout Colony and Metroville-I remained tense after the incident.

FIR of Friday killing

An FIR (121/2012) was registered against eight unknown assailants on the complaint of Adnan, the younger brother of Farhan alias Guddu, who was among the three PPP workers killed at Urdu Chowk in Orangi Town’s Mominabad area on Friday. The other victims of the attack were Nafees Siddiqui and Umar Hayat.

The FIR was registered more than 48 hours after the incident. Initially, PPP activists wanted to nominate some suspects in the FIR but they finally agreed to lodge the complaint against ‘unknown killers’.