KARACHI, March 27: Two officers of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) believed to be involved in anti-Al Qaeda operations were gunned down on Thursday on a busy street near Regal Chowk, in Saddar, witnesses and police said.

They said Inspector Mohammed Ibrahim and Sub-inspector Fazalur Rahman, posted at the IB’s anti-terrorism section (ATS), were shot dead on Frere Road at around 7:20pm by two attackers who came on a motorbike Honda-125.

Witnesses said the assailants fled the scene after the attack during the evening rush hour.

The witnesses said the attackers intercepted the victims, who were also on a 125cc (IDD-1976), in front of a car showroom and shot them at point-blank range.

The officials were shifted to Civil Hospital, but were pronounced dead.

Tahir Naveed, a police officer, told Dawn that it was apparently a case of targeted killing.

Intelligence sources told Dawn that both slain officers had been active in anti-terrorist operation.

They said the two officers were also linked with the investigation and detection of a number of terrorism-related cases, including Allama Hasan Turrabi murder case, Marriot bomb blast case and Nishtar Park bomb blast case.

The sources said Inspector Ibrahim, resident of Jubilee, Ranchore Lanes, had been posted to Dubai a week ago. He was due to leave for the Gulf state in a couple of days.

The second victim, Fazal, hailed from the NWFP.

He was promoted as SI a few days ago.

An IB official told Dawn that the two officers had received a cash award of Rs500,000 each for their performance against Al Qaeda.

Constables killed

Two constables were shot dead by unknown occupants of a car near the headquarters of Airport Security Force.

Airport police said when constables Fazal Abbas and Mohammed Iqbal signalled a car to stop, they were met by a volley of bullets.

The victims were rushed to a private hospital near Kala Board, Malir, but died of their wounds.

Later, the bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Hospital for autopsy. Hospital sources said both the victims received multiple bullet wounds from a very close range.