KARACHI, Jan 11: A security guard was killed and four others were wounded in firing on a car of the Sindh chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Samiul Haq) in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday, police said.

While Sindh JUI-S chief Maulana Hammadullah Madni remained unhurt in the intense firing, his two guards, a brother, a school van driver and a passer-by sustained gunshot wounds, the police added.

Six armed men riding three motorbikes opened fire on the white car carrying the Maulana and his associates close to the railway crossing in Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 13-D-3, the police said.

They said a school van passing through the area also came under fire that left its driver, Imdad Akbar, wounded, while the schoolchildren remained safe. Similarly, a passer-by, Osama, also sustained gunshot wounds, they said.

The wounded victims were taken to a private hospital on Stadium Road where one of the private guards, Mohammad Safdar, died during treatment while the other guard, Jahan Akbar, and Maulana’s brother Affan Bin Ahmed were admitted, the police said.

The shooting caused panic as people ran for cover, witnesses said.

The police said that Maulana Hammadullah was going to the Sindh Secretariat mosque for Friday prayers from his seminary located in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

They said that firing was carried out from all sides of the car. The police claimed to have collected half a dozen spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol from the crime-scene.

A senior police officer of the area said the killing seemed to be part of sectarian unrest in the city.

A statement issued by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), said to be a reincarnation of the banned militant outfit Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, condemned the attack describing the JUI-S leader a close sympathiser of the ASWJ.

ST activist shot dead

A Sunni Tehreek activist was shot dead in the Preedy Street area in the early hours of Friday, police said.

They added that the body was found at a corner of the Technical High School, Lines Area, within the remit of the Brigade police station.

The body bore a bullet wound in the neck, the police said, adding that they shifted it to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

The victim was identified as Ali Qadri, 20, belonging to the party’s unit-196, a spokesman for the Sunni Tehreek said.

Another ST worker dies

Another activist of the Sunni Tehrik, who had sustained gunshot wounds in an attack on his shop within the remit of the Jamshad Quarters police station two days ago, died at the Civil Hospital Karachi during treatment on Friday.

A spokesman for the ST said that Danish Qadri was a resident of PIB Colony.

The area remained tense with closure of markets during his funeral. Later, the victim was buried at a local graveyard.

Body found

The body of an unidentified young man was found on a bank of the Lyari River within the remit of the Pak Colony police station, officials said.

The body bearing torture marks was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities before it was taken to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

The police believed that the victim had been killed several days ago.

Man shot dead in Surjani

A man was shot dead and a school watchman was wounded in Khuda Ki Basti, Surjani Town, on Friday, police said.

A duty officer of the Surjani Town police station said that the shooting was carried out after a woman running a school canteen called her husband informing him that school’s watchman and his brother had misbehaved with her.

Subsequently, the police said, her husband along with two accomplices arrived at the school and after meeting her they fired at the watchman and his brother.

The wounded were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Ghulam Israr Magsi died while watchman Ghulam Mohammad Magsi was provided treatment, the officials said.

Body found

The body of a young man was found from a house in Gul Mohammad Goth within the remit of the Sohrab Goth police station.

The police said that the victim, in his mid-30s, had been killed with a blunt weapon.

The body bearing multiple injuries was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.