August 23, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 20, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 22: Three persons, including a young boy, died when gunmen opened fire on a man they were chasing in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar area on Friday morning. A young man was shot dead in Baldia Town.

Police said Tahir, who was later identified as having a criminal record, was being chased by two or more men into Husain Hazara Goth. The suspects opened fire on Tahir with an AK-47 assault rifle. However, the bullets also hit an elderly woman, Marium, and her grandson who were sitting near their home.

Police said Tahir died on the spot and the woman died shortly afterwards. The boy, 6, was shifted to a hospital in a critical condition, where he also died.

Police said Tahir had four FIRs registered against him at the Sohrab Goth police station. Earlier he was arrested in Balochistan and in 2003 was shifted to the Karachi Central Prison from the Quetta jail. In late 2007, he was released on bail.

Police suspected personal enmity as the motive behind his murder. Police have registered an FIR against unknown persons on the complaint of family members of the woman and the boy.

Nobody came to claim Tahir’s body, police said.

In the other incident, a young man was shot dead by unknown persons in Baldia Town early Friday morning. Police said the victim’s body was found near Chandni Chowk. Police said the victim could not be immediately identified. His body was sent to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Group clash

Four men were wounded in a clash between activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party late Thursday night at the Shorab Goth bridge, police said. Hostilities broke out over hoisting of flags and graffiti on the bridge.

Police said a motorcycle was also torched during the hours-long violence, which spread to the adjoining areas of Ancholi, Al-Asif Square and Abul Hasan Ispahani Road. However, a senior police officer said the hostilities between the two groups remained confined to Gulberg Town and did not spill over to the Sohrab Goth area.

Following the incident heavy contingents of police and Rangers were deployed in the area to prevent further violence. However, normality returned to the area by Friday morning.

Arrested

Police picked up four suspects from a mosque in Buffer Zone late Thursday night and seized some proscribed literature from them.

Sources said personnel of the special branch raided a mosque in Sector 15-2B, Buffer Zone, and detained four suspects. However, no arms and ammunition were found with them.

Police did not disclose the identities of the suspects, but sources said the detained persons included foreigners.