KARACHI, May 7: A marble trader shot dead in his Bara Board shop within the remit of the Pak Colony police station was among the three persons killed in the city on Monday, police said.

They said that 46-year-old Zafar Iqbal was sitting at his shop where two armed men riding a motorcycle came, opened fire on him and escaped.

The shopkeeper and a 30-year-old passer-by, Abdul Rehman, were wounded in the shooting.

The victims were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Zafar Iqbal died, the police said.

Commercial activities were suspended in the area after the killing.

The members of the marble association closed their businesses and staged a protest demonstration against the killing.

The police said that Lyari gangsters might be involved in the incident.

They said the victim was also a sympathiser of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the father of three children and hailed from Sialkot.

The killing could be politically motivated, but anything could be said with certainty after a proper investigation, the police added.

In the second incident, at least two persons were killed and three others wounded when gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on a roadside restaurant in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Monday night, police said.

They said the incident took place in Block 13-D of Gulshan, where reportedly four suspects riding two motorcycles came to the eatery and opened fire.

As a result, Muhammad Ali alias Shahani and Jehangir Khan and two others were wounded.

They were rushed to different hospitals, where Muhammad Ali and Jehangir died during treatment.

SP of Gulshan-i-Iqbal Salam Shaikh said Muhammad Ali was the restaurant owner and Jehangir was his employee. Sarfaraz, Amjad and Razimandh, injured in the firing, were also employees at the eatery.

The police were not sure about the motive for the shooting. They collected over 40 spent bullet casings from the crime-scene.

Wanted ‘bandit’ killed during robbery

An alleged bandit was shot dead in what police described as an encounter within the remit of the SITE-A police station on Monday.

According to the police, the alleged bandit was robbing the owner of a factory in the area and when a police party reached there he opened fire on the police.

The police returned fire and gunned down the suspect later identified as 25-year-old Aslam alias Sharabi, the police said.

A TT pistol, three cellphones and Rs20,000 were found in his possession, SHO Rao Rafiq said, adding that the dead was a resident of Frontier Colony.

The suspect was wanted in several criminal cases, the SHO added.

Free-will marriage couple hit by train

A newly-wed couple on the run after getting married of their own free will died when a train, Khyber Mail, hit them within remit of the Cantt police station on Monday, police said.

They said 25-year-old Mohammad Sajid Sharif and 20-year-old Sonia, who were cousins, contracted a free-will marriage in court on May 3 in Vehari against the wishes of their families and came to Karachi due to a threat to their life.

The police said the statements of their relatives suggested that the couple were disturbed due to their families’ pressure and had committed suicide.

The police have started investigation into the incident.

However, the police were suspicious about the incident and refused to rule out the families’ involvement in the incident.

The police said they had collected the couple’s marriage documents and their identity cards from the spot and added that the documents showed that the couple had contracted a court marriage on May 3 in Vehari.

The couple then came to Karachi and were staying in a relative’s home in Bahadurabad, the police said.

After medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the two bodies were handed over to the couple’s relative.