Muttahida man among five shot dead in city

KARACHI, Aug 1: A police sub-inspector, a head constable and a senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement worker were among the five people shot dead in the city on Thursday, police and party sources said. Korangi Industrial Area police said SI Ashfaq Ahmed, 49, was posted at the SP-Landhi office located at Drigh Road. He left his home in Landhi’s D-4 Area in his car. When he reached near the Brooks roundabout, two men riding a motorcycle intercepted him. The police said initially a scuffle broke out between them and the officer hit one of the suspects with his own helmet. However, the suspect’s other accomplice opened fire on the police officer. SI Ahmed, father of five, sustained three bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead. “The murder appears to be a targeted killing,” said KIA police officer Omer Hayat. He said if it were a robbery attempt, the suspects would have taken away Rs85,000 and two cellphones of the police officer. In another incident, a head constable was shot dead and an assistant sub-inspector wounded in an attack on a police van in Sohrab Goth, officials said. They said HC Muhammad Qasim Korai, 44, and ASI Muhammad Pervez, 40, were patrolling in a mobile van in Aqa Khel Basti near Ahsanabad when two gunmen on a motorcycle rode in front of the van, opened fire on both police officials sitting in the front seat and fled. HC Korai was hit by two bullets in the chest and face and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. ASI Pervez was shifted to the PN Shifa hospital for treatment. The police said only the two officials were travelling in the mobile van. Mr Korai, originally hailing from Moro taluka, lived in Khamiso Goth here. Mr Pervez, belonging to Hazara division, lived in Faqira Goth. DIG-East Captain Tahir Naveed said the police were investigating about the possible motive and identity of the suspects involved in the incident. He said the condition of the wounded ASI was out of danger. The SP in charge of Gadap, Mohammad Khalid Khan, told Dawn that Aqa Khel tribesmen hailing from Afghanistan were known as sympathisers of the Taliban had often attacked police in the area. A senior worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was shot dead in Jodia Bazaar and two passersby, including a boy, were killed in the subsequent violence, the Kharadar police said. Four passersby also received bullet injuries in the violence, said Kharadar SHO Azam Khan. “Shakeel aka Shikku was allegedly targeted by Lyari gangsters,” said the SDPO of Kharadar, Iftikhar Lodhi. “The victim lived in Dubai and had come here around a week ago after the death of his father, Israr,” Lodhi said. “Shakeel was distributing chits for Fitra at his late father’s office on the ground floor of Hasan Centre in Jodia Bazaar when gunmen who came on foot attacked and killed him.” The police officer said that friends who took Shakeel to a hospital in a trader’s hi-roof van allegedly resorted to firing ostensibly to force closure of the bazaar and clear the way for them in the densely populated locality. As a result, a donkey-cart rider sustained a bullet wound in his neck. Mr Lodhi said Shakeel was a unit-in-charge of the MQM in Jodia Bazaar. The SHO said that following the killing, gunmen resorted to firing in Jodia Bazaar and Boulton Market, resulting in bullet wounds to six passersby. The wounded were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where one of them, identified as Sohail Amin, died. The SHO said Amin has gone to the bazaar to make some purchases. He said a 16-year-old Afghan boy also died in the firing. The boy’s identity could not be ascertained immediately. The wounded persons were identified as Shoaib, Waqar, Shahid and Hameed. “There was a political rivalry between the MQM and the banned Peoples Amn Committee in the area,” said the Kharadar SHO. Besides, PAC men and Shakeel had fought over some personal matter last year, added Azam Khan.An MQM spokesperson said that 10 to 12 suspects resorted to indiscriminate firing, resulting in the instant death of Shakeel, MQM’s joint unit chief of the Ranchhore Line sector’s unit 3-B, while another MQM activist, Shoaib, was wounded. The spokesperson said the suspects also fired and killed a party supporter in Kharadar. He said that during the previous 24 hours their five workers and supporters were killed in Ranchhore Line, Jodia Bazaar, New Karachi and Gulistan-i-Jauhar. “It shows that the MQM workers are being targeted under an organised plan,” said the spokesperson. The party urged the interior minister, Sindh governor and chief minister to take notice of the killings.MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned Shakeel’s killing.