KARACHI, Aug 4: A private security guard was killed and a salesman wounded when a bandit opened indiscriminate fire on facing resistance from employees of a tiles shop in Golimar on Saturday, police said.

They said two gunmen on a motorbike pulled up in front of HM Tiles, one of the several shops in Gulbahar and Golimar, and stormed into the shop. Before the people inside the shop sensed danger, the two pulled out pistols and held them hostage.

“In the meantime, a private security guard of the shop, who was not noticed by the armed men while entering the shop in the congested area, took a position,” said DSP Rustam Khattak, the area’s sub-divisional police officer. “But the situation turned ugly when one of the bandits noticed the security guard and in panic fired shots indiscriminately. Bullets hit guard Khurram Irshad and salesman Raheel Ali while the two bandits sped away.”

The two wounded were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Khurram died, he said, adding that Raheel underwent surgery but was stated to be stable.

The incident sparked anger among the area traders who took to the streets and chanted slogans over the growing crime in their area and against the failure of the security administration to control the situation. Talks between senior police officials and leaders of the traders community helped disperse the protesters.

The police, however, ruled out extortion as a motive behind the incident, saying it was purely a mugging attempt that turned violent due to resistance by the people inside the shop.

“I have talked to the shop owner, who denied any extortion threat and also sounded convinced that the two were robbers who had come to loot the shop,” added DSP Khattak.

Gunny bag body found

Earlier, in the small hours of the day, police found the body of a young man stuffed in a gunny bag in Bheempura.

The police said the body was spotted an hour before sunrise by area people along the storm drain near Sawar Compound.

“Some people who came out of their homes to buy Sehri food items spotted the suspicious bag,” said an official at the Napier police station. “The police reached there and later found the body stuffed in the bag. He was hit by a single bullet in the head. The body was moved to the Edhi morgue after medico-legal formalities at the Civil Hospital Karachi for want of identification.”

Family feud

In Landhi, a young man was killed and a 12-year-old boy wounded in indiscriminate firing described by police as a result of a years-old family feud.

The area police said 33-year-old Muhammad Munawwar alias Sunny was at a plastic shop for some personal task in Bhutto Nagar of Landhi-89 when two men on a motorbike targeted him.

“The firing also hit the 12-year-old boy who worked at that shop,” said Inspector Mazhar Iqbal Awan, the SHO of the Landhi police station. “Sunny died on the spot. The victim originally hailed from Mansehra. There has been a family feud for years which has claimed several lives over the years.”

He said there were two groups within the family called Zheera and Javeda groups. They belonged to the Javeda group and lived in Muhammad Nagar of Landhi town.