KARACHI, Nov 20: Five people, including two workers of the Sunni Tehrik, were killed on Thursday in different acts of violence across the city, police and witnesses said.
The Saeedabad police said that a ST worker was killed and three others were wounded, one of them fatally, in an attack at Christian Colony in Baldia Town No 4.
The witnesses said that one of the victims, Mohammed Sajjad, was killed instantly and two others received bullet wounds when four attackers riding on two motorcycles sprayed the victims’ vehicle with bullets.
The dead and the injured were taken to the Civil Hospital by a Chhipa Trust ambulance where one of the injured, Dr Aurangzeb, also died.
The ST media coordinator, Sheikh Fahim Uddin, told Dawn that the terrorists ambushed the ST worker at around 4.40pm.
He said Dr Aurangzeb, 34, Mohammed Sajjad, and Mohammed Shahid worked at a hospital run by the Ahl-i-Sunnat Khidmat Committee Trust in Baldia Town. “The ST workers were going to their respective homes with Dr Aurangzeb after off-duty when they were attacked,” he added.
The ST spokesman said that the culprits, believed to have been waiting for the ST workers, opened fire on the vehicle as it slowed down at a speed-breaker near Dr Aurangzeb’s home in Rangarh Mohalla. “The attackers used automatic firearms such as repeaters in the attack,” he added.
However, the police said the ST workers were sitting at an open place in Sector D-3 of Baldia Town at the time of attack.
Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that Sajjad had received a fatal bullet wound in his chest and Dr Aurangzeb in his abdomen.
They said a bullet ruptured one of the victim’s kidneys and he died while he was being operated upon.
The ST said the doctor, father of two, was the party’s former sector head in Baldia Town.
Body found
The body of a 26-year-old man was found near Pankha Hotel in Shershah.
The police said the body was spotted by an Edhi volunteer in the small hours of Thursday and it was shifted to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.
Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim, wearing a red shirt and gray trousers, received three bullets – one to the head and the others to the neck and abdomen – from a very close range as the bullets went through his skull and body.
The police said the victim, Tanvir Ahmed, son of Taj Mohammed, was a resident of Baloch Mohalla in Kalakot.
They said a case (FIR 218/2008) was registered against unknown culprits under sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Aslam Pervaiz, a head constable.
A duty officer at the Shershah police station said the victim’s brother reported to the police that unidentified culprits had kidnapped the victim on Wednesday evening near their home.
However, he said, the section relating to the kidnapping was not incorporated in the FIR for the reasons best known to the officer who had recorded the complainant’s statement.
Guard shot dead
A 30-year-old security guard was shot dead during a bungled robbery in Bahadurabad.
The police said that two bandits reached a medical store on Syed Mohammed Ali Shah Road in Mohammed Ali Housing Society at around 2.30pm.
They said a private security guard, Zarriyat Ali, struggled with the bandits who opened fire on him and fled.
The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where sources said the victim, hailing from Kohat, had received a fatal bullet in his upper torso from a point-blank range.
Property dealer killed
A 40-year-old man was gunned down by unknown assailants near his house in Khawaja Ajmair Nagri.
The police said the victim, Mohammed Ashraf, was a property dealer and was shot dead at around 9.15pm when he was going to buy milk.
They said the victim was a bachelor and lived with his elder sister.
The police said the murder seemed to be motivated by a personal enmity as the victim was engaged in several property deals.
41 vehicles, 45 cellphone taken away
As many as 41 vehicles – 10 automobiles and 31 motorbikes – and 45 cellular phone sets were taken away by the evening on Thursday in different parts of the city.
Three cars were hijacked in the police limits of Sukkun, Zaman Town and Landhi, and seven others were stolen in the police jurisdictions of Frere, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Model Colony, Saudabad, North Nazimabad, Al-Falah and Site.
Besides, six motorcycles were snatched at gunpoint in the police areas of Saeedabad, Jauharabad, Aziz Bhatti, Sachal, Model Colony and New Karachi.
As many as 25 motorcycles were stolen in the limits of Preedy, Yousuf Plaza, PIB Colony, Ferozabad, Korangi Industrial Area, Kalakot, Nabi Bux, Saddar, City Court, Risala, Kharadar, Eidgah and Artillery Maidan.
Moreover, 21 mobile phones were snatched at gunpoint and 24 others were stolen.
As many as 44 motorcycles, nine cars and 98 cellular phone sets were taken away on Wednesday across the city. Of them, two cars, 19 motorcycles and 51 cellular phones were snatched by bandits at gunpoint.
Looting spree
A gang of over 12 bandits went on a looting spree in the small hours of Thursday in Landhi.
The police said the dacoits held two constables – Naeem and Khateeb – hostage at gunpoint and deprived them of their official rifles.
They said later the gang looted Rs100,000 from a nearby petrol station, deprived a fuel customer, Khalil Ahmed, of his Hi-roof and drove off.
The police said the hijacked vehicle was found abandoned at a little distance ahead. They said one of the police rifles was also found in the abandoned vehicle.
A case was registered on the complaint of constable Naeem.
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