KARACHI, Jan 29: Two Sunni Tehrik workers were shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists within the remit of the Garden police station on Sunday afternoon, police said.

The killings sparked tension in the area. Following the two killings, incidents of firing took place in which at least four other people, including a woman, were wounded.

The targeted killings took place on a day when the ST was holding a public meeting at Nishtar Park.

A duty officer at the Garden police station said that Sohail Qadri and Saleem Qadri, both in their mid-20s, were passing by an abandoned biscuit factory in Usmanabad when unidentified motorcyclists arrived there and fired at them.

The attackers escaped following the shooting. The wounded men were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where they were pronounced dead on arrival, the police added.

They said a 9mm pistol was used in the attack as several spent bullet casings were collected from the spot.

A spokesman for the Sunni Tehrik confirmed that both men were their workers belonging to the Garden area.

All business activities in the area markets were abruptly suspended and shopkeepers pulled down their shutters as unidentified gunmen fired into the air, the police said, adding that four people were wounded in firing incidents.

Reinforcement of police and Rangers were sent to the affected area to control the situation.

Till Sunday night, all business activities in the area remained suspended.

The registration of a case pertaining to the killings was awaited as the families of the victims told the police that they would lodge an FIR after the funeral and burial of the victims, the police added.

Hit-and-run accident An unidentified man was killed in a hit-and-run accident near the Nipa traffic intersection on Sunday, police said.

The duty officer at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station said the victim, around 45, could not be identified.

The body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities and later it was shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

Two held after ‘encounter’Two suspects were arrested and weapons were seized from them following an ‘encounter’ with police in a Dalmia area on Sunday night, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the police carried out a raid on Majeed Para in Dalmia, a duty officer at the Aziz Bhatti police station said.

However, an exchange of fire took place following which the suspects —Yasir alias Dada and Shahnawaz alias Shera — were arrested, the police said.

A 7mm rifle and a TT pistol were seized from them, the police said.

No one was hurt in the exchange of gunfire.