KARACHI A senior police officer who investigated the Oct 18 Karsaz bomb attacks on Benazir Bhutto's procession was gunned down along with his driver here on Monday night.
 
Officials said that DSP Nawaz Ranjha, who was posted as supervisory police officer at Preedy police station, was on a routine patrol when two armed men riding a motorcycle fired multiple shots at his police vehicle near Radio Pakistan on M.A. Jinnah Road and escaped.

“The DSP and his driver, constable Jehangir Hussain, were badly injured and taken to the Civil Hospital, where they died,” Saddar Town SSP Javed Akbar Riaz said. They were hit in the chest and head. 9mm pistols were used in the attack.

The motive behind the incident could not be ascertained. Although DSP Ranjha once headed investigations into the Oct 18 bomb attacks which killed more than 150 people, police high-ups said they did not see any link between the murder and the investigation.

“He was a non-controversial officer and highly respected among his colleagues,” city police chief Waseem Ahmed said. “There is no immediate motive which we can doubt, but it's an attempt to disturb the city's peace and stability.”

In Orangi Town, a doctor was shot dead on Monday night. Police said that 45-year-old Dr Najam-ul-Hasan was attacked by two men riding a motorcycle. He suffered multiple bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbassi Shaheed Hospital.

“He was operated upon at the hospital, but a bullet in his head proved fatal,” said an official at the Iqbal Market police station.