KARACHI: A couple and their nephew were shot dead inside their home in Korangi at Iftar on Sunday, taking the death toll in the city since late Saturday night to 10, police said.

As Shamsul Hasan, 55, his wife Rasheeda, 50, and their nephew Zeeshan, 22, broke their fast after dusk, gunmen entered their house situated near the mobile market in Sector 35-D, Korangi 4, and opened fire on them, said a duty officer of the Awami Colony police station.

The three family members had been shot multiple times, he said, adding that police investigators later found more than a dozen spent bullet casings at the crime scene.

The official said the couple had sustained gunshot wounds to their chest and abdomen, while their nephew had been shot to the head.

The police quoted people in the neighbourhood as saying that the three suspects had come to the house on a motorcycle.

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

“The exact motive for the killings is not yet clear,” said DIG-East Shahid Hayat. However, he said, the family had a history of drug peddling.

The family head, his slain nephew and a son had been jailed in narcotics cases, he added. The DIG said that a son of Shamsul Hasan was in the vicinity and he saw the fleeing killers. He was in a state of shock at present, he added.

Woman gunned down

A woman was killed and her husband and a brother-in-law were wounded in a gun attack on the family in the early hours of Sunday in Surjani Town.

Police said the family had just returned home in Rozi Goth when suspects riding a motorcycle attacked them with firearms at around 3am.

A duty officer at the Surjani Town police station said Hasina Khatoon, her husband, Zahid, and brother-in-law, Asif, were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital with gunshot wounds. The woman died during treatment, he added.

Quoting the area people, the police said the unknown assailants rode away after carrying out the attack. The police suspected some personal enmity behind the attack.

Two shot dead

A man was shot dead in Junjal Goth near New Sabzi Mandi within the remit of the Sohrab Goth police station on Sunday.

Police said the attack took place near Chawal Godam when the man, identified as Shumail Khan, 45, was shot by two persons riding a motorcycle while he was on his way to work in the Mandi. The victim lived close to the crime scene, the police added.

The victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died before he could be shifted to hospital, the police said. They quoted doctors on duty at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital as saying that one of the bullets that pierced his neck proved fatal.

The police said some personal enmity seemed to be the motive behind his murder.

In Malir, a man was shot dead by unknown persons at a tailor’s.

Police said that an altercation took place at the shop located on Bakra Piri Road within the remit of the Malir City police station. The young man, identified as Muzammil Ahmed, sustained serious bullet wounds and was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.

MQM, PPP men killed

Two political activists were among three persons shot dead in different parts of the city on Saturday night.

Khurram Sultan, 35, an MQM activist, was targeted by unknown assailants near Gol Market in Nazimabad No.3.

The victim was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The police said the activist, belonging to the party’s Unit 183, was having tea at a hotel when armed men opened fire on him.

A senior PPP activist was gunned down by unknown assailants who barged into his residence in Bab-i-Iqbal Apartments in New Karachi late Saturday night.

PPP central district president Sohail Abidi said that the victim, Safdar Baloch, was a senior activist of the party.

The body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.

In another incident, a young man, Rashid Ahmed, was shot dead by unknown men at around midnight in Federal B Area within the remit of the Yousuf Plaza police station.

The victim suffered gunshot wounds in the chest and died on the spot, the police said, adding that the body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Two bodies found

The body of a young man stuffed in a gunny bag was found dumped in the Aram Bagh area on Sunday.

Police said the body had been dumped in the furniture market sometime in the early hours of the day.

They said the victim’s throat was found slit. The body was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi for legal formalities and, later, sent to the Edhi morgue for identification.

Meanwhile, police found a 12-15 days old decomposed body of a man in the Khairabad locality of the Manghopir area on Sunday.

The police said the dead had a Qaumi Razakar card on his body that suggested his possible identity as Pervez Ashraf.

The remains were sent to the Civil Hospital for legal formalities.