KARACHI, Oct 23: Two member of the Ahmadi community, a policeman and two brothers were among at least eight people gunned down in different parts of the city on Tuesday.

Police said the two Ahmadis were shot dead in the night in Sector 8 within the remit of the Saeedabad police station, where Abdul Bashir Ahmed, 70, the owner of a small general store, was targeted by assailants riding a motorcycle.

Shortly afterwards and a few streets away, gunmen barged into the clinic of Dr Raja Abdul Hameed, 50, shot him dead at point-blank range, and escaped.

“It appears that both killings were carried out by the same suspects riding a motorcycle,” acting DIG-West Amir Farooqui told Dawn. Both victims belonged to the Ahmadi community, he added.

Police said spent bullet casings of a 9mm pistol were found at both crime scenes. They said the two suspects were wearing helmets.Following the killings tension gripped the locality.

A spokesman for the Ahmadi community, Saleemuddin, told Dawn that both victims were members of the community and both killings took place in close proximity.

He recalled that last Friday an Ahmadi family was targeted by suspects in the same area of Baldia Town.

He expressed concern over the rampant killing of members of the Ahmadi communuity. The spokesman said so far at least nine members of the community had been killed in targeted attacks in the city.

Two brothers killed

Two brothers were gunned down in the Soldier Bazaar area on Tuesday night.

Police said the incident took place in Soldier Bazaar 2, where suspects fired at the two men sitting outside a public call office.

Later the two men were identified as Mohammad Umar, 30, and Mohammad Ikram, 32, both sons of Nizamuddin.

They were rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), where they died during treatment. The police said the shooting was carried out by two suspects riding a motorcycle who escaped the scene following the incident.

Police sources said that Mohammad Umar was said to be an activist of the People’s Amn Committee. However, a spokesman for the Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Maulana Akbar Saeed Farooqui, claimed that the two men were     ASWJ supporters.

Earlier, two other brothers, also claimed by the ASWJ as its supporters, were wounded in the North Nazimabad area on Tuesday night.

They were seriously wounded when gunmen shot them within the remit of the Taimuria police station.

The police said the incident took place near the Landikotal Chowrangi, where assailants opened fire on Ismail and Abdul Waheed, sons of Gul Mohammad, who were getting an oil change of their motorcycle.

Both men were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they were admitted for treatment.

An ASWJ spokesman described both men as their supporters.

The spokesman further said that two years back two brothers and activists of the ASWJ, Qari Shuaib and Qari Hammad, sons of Gul Mohammad, were killed in a similar incident.

Policeman shot dead

A policeman constable was gunned down in Lyari on Tuesday, when another one wounded in a July attack died, taking the number of policemen killed in violence this year to 69.

Police said the incident took place near Kashti Chowk within the remit of the Napier police station where Sajid Baloch, 42, a constable posted in the special branch was targeted by suspects.

They said the policeman living in Nawalane was going to work when he was attacked. The victim suffered gunshot wounds in the head and chest. The suspects fled the scene. The victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Station house officer of the Napier police station Aslam Gujjar described the incident as an act of targeted killing.

“Apparently, the suspects were already waiting for the constable near the Kashti Chowk and targeted him when he got there,” the officer said.

On learning about the incident, a large number of the victim’s friends and relatives reached the hospital.

Police said they suspected the involvement of Lyari gangsters in the killing.

Meanwhile, a policeman wounded in a firing incident in July this year within the remit of the Risala police station died in the early hours of Tuesday.

Police said constable Mohammad Hasnain was wounded when a police van was sprayed with bullets in the Risala area on July 9.

He was under treatment at a private hospital, where he died on Tuesday, the police said.

Milk trader killed

A man was killed and another wounded when gunmen opened fire at a milk shop in Pak Colony on Tuesday.

Police said the incident took place in Rexer Lane, where gunmen riding a motorcycle shot and wounded Mohammad Azam and Mohammad Talib.

Both men were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Azam, 37, was pronounced dead on arrival. Police said Azam was a milk trader.

Following the killing, tension gripped the locality and people took to the streets over the killing. The victim was a resident of the locality. A bus was set on fire during the protest. The protest led to an hours-long traffic blockage in the Old Golimar area.

Finally police and Rangers arrived at the scene and persuaded them to end the protest.

Young man shot dead

A young man was gunned down in a Sohrab Goth locality on Tuesday.

Police said the incident took place in Jamali Goth, where Amirullah, 32, was sitting at a cosmetics shop when gunmen riding a motorcycle shot him before fleeing. They said the victim suffered six gunshot wounds and died on the spot.

DSP Qamar Ahmed said two months back he had suffered a gunshot wound in the leg.

The victim was a labourer hailing from Waziristan.

Police suspected personal enmity as a motive for the killing.

Two wounded die

Two of the four men wounded in a firing incident at shop in North Nazimabad on Monday night died during treatment on Tuesday.

They were wounded in firing at a super and fast food store located in Block-M, North Nazimabad, within the remit of the Taimuria police station.

The wounded were initially rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment. They were identified as Sohail Yaqoob, 25, Babu Bhai, 28, Zohaib Hasan, 30, and Asif Mohammad.

Police said Zohaib and Babu Bhai died during treatment at a private hospital on Tuesday.

The funeral of Zohaib was held at Markazi Imambargah, Jaffar-i-Tayyar Society, on Tuesday night.

The police said two gunmen riding a motorcycle had opened fire targeting the shop employees and escaped. Police found several spent bullet casings of a 9mm pistol from the crime scene.

A senior police officer of the area said Zohaib was visiting his friend Sohail at the time of the incident.

Police were not sure about the motive for the attack.   Bandit killed

A suspected bandit was killed and his accomplice wounded in what police described as an encounter in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Tuesday night.

Police said the incident took place on the main Gulistan-i-Jauhar Road near the Chaudhry Mateen restaurant, where two suspects were carrying out snatching when a police party arrived at the scene and a shootout followed. As a result, one of the suspects later identified as Usman died while his accomplice, Amir, was wounded.

Police seized two stolen motorcycles and a pistol from the suspects.