KARACHI: A group of gunmen on Wednesday brought two men, whose hands and legs were tied, to the Rais Mianwali Centre and opened fire on them before fleeing in Manghopir, police said.

Both the victims died on the spot, the officials added.

A nine-year-old student passing through the area on his way to school also suffered a gunshot wound in the firing, the police said.

Manghopir DSP Shaukat Shani said one of the deceased was identified as Syed Zarin Aqil, while the student was identified as Attaullah Jilani.

He said the deceased and the wounded were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

The police said that Zarin was a drug peddler and wanted in two drug cases registered at the Pirabad and Shahra-i-Noorjehan police stations. He resided near the Chaghi restaurant in Pirabad, the officials said.

Trader killed in ‘sectarian attack’

A young man was shot dead in Manzoor Colony on Wednesday morning, police said.

The Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) said 23-year-old Asad Chawla was targeted in a ‘sectarian attack’.

The Baloch Colony police said three suspects riding a motorcycle attacked Asad Chawla, 23, when he opened his cement depot. The wounded was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The victim was a resident of Mehmoodabad-6 and originally hailed from Punjab.

The murder was not outcome of any robbery bid, said SHO Ghazanfar Kazmi, adding that investigation was under way to ascertain exact motive for the killing.

A spokesperson for the MWM said the victim was Shia who was killed in a targeted attack. He said the sectarian killing continued unabated due to alleged patronage of ‘terrorists of banned outfits’. “Notorious terrorists have been accorded official protocol in the name of security and such ringleaders and their abettors have turned their localities into no-go areas for ordinary citizens,” said Karachi-based MWM representative Allama Mubashir Hassan.

‘Robber’ killed

A suspected robber was shot dead in what police said an encounter in Shershah on Wednesday.

The police said two suspects were looting people on Akbar Road when a police patrol arrived there. On seeing the police, the suspects opened fire in a bid to flee. In ‘retaliatory fire’, one of the suspects, identified as Mohammed Shakeel, 35, was killed while the other managed to escape.

A motorbike stolen from the old city area and a TT pistol were seized from their possession.

The deceased was allegedly involved in robberies and police encounters at several police stations, said SHO Ejaz Khawaja.