January 24, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 14, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 23: Four kidnap victims were safely recovered after an encounter in Clifton on Wednesday.

The victims, Khayam Memon, Tariq, Adil and Saeed (driver), were having dinner in their car in DHA Phase-II, Extension, at around 11:30pm when four/five kidnappers came in a car and kidnapped them at gunpoint.

The kidnappers took the hostages to the office of Khayam Memon and ordered him to bring Rs500,000.

However, Memon approached the CPLC for help.

Subsequently, a joint team of the police and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) conducted a raid at the place near Florida Homes at around 2:30am and challenged the kidnappers. An encounter ensued during which one of the kidnappers died and three of the hostages were recovered.

The retreating kidnappers took away the fourth victim along with them leaving behind the body of their accomplice.

However, the the kidnappers team chased and forced them to release the captive at a section of Sharea Faisal.

The dead kidnapper could not be identified till late Wednesday.

Youth kills mother

A youth allegedly shot dead his mother in Sherpao Basti in Bahadurabad on Wednesday over a domestic dispute. Police arrested Adnan, 20, and recovered an unlicensed pistol for killing his mother, Haleema, 45.

Two bodies found

In Manghopir, a 26-year-old labourer was found dead. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the victim was identified as Raza Mohammed, a resident of Khairabad, Orangi Town. Hospital sources said the man had received a single bullet to his head. The police have registered a case against unknown killers on the complaint of his brother, Ata Mohammed.

Another body, of a 20-year-old youth, was found near a school in the limits of Al-Falah police station.

The body was shifted to the JPMC where the victim was identified as Mohammed Umair, son of Abdul Hameed. He was shot to his head.

Police said the victim, a resident of Anwar-i-Ibrahim, had been missing since Tuesday night.

Doctor shot dead

A doctor was shot dead and his son and paramedical assistant were wounded by four assailants who struck a clinic at Sohrab Goth. The deceased, Dr Kabir Khanzada, 50, and the injured, Mateen Khanzada and Ismat Khan, were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

In Ibrahim Haideri, a 27-year-old man, Abdul Waheed, was shot dead in his house by a gang of dacoits who also took away Rs30,000 and a shotgun. The victim was an employee of a private company.