December 12, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 13, 1429

KARACHI, Dec 11: Four young boys were killed and seven others injured, some of them critically, when a wall of a warehouse collapsed in Baldia Town on Tuesday, the first day of Eidul Azha, police and witnesses said.

They said the victims, aged between 15 and 18 years, ragpickers of Afghan origin, were sleeping in the compound of the warehouse in Rasheedabad when the wall collapsed late in the night.

The dead and the injured were taken to the Civil Hospital, where the dead were identified as Allah Dad, Shahzad, Sher Ali and Siraj. The wounded were Hussain Agha, Khudadad, Noor Mohammed, Hasan, Israr, Hashim and Dawood.

Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that two of the victims were brought dead and the two others died at the hospital.

The witnesses said the wall collapsed with a big thud sometime after midnight. They said the area people rushed to the spot to find the victims trapped under the rubble.

One of the injured victim said he with the others was asleep when the wall collapsed. “I woke up when a piece of concrete fell on me,” he added.

The police said no case was registered as the wall had collapsed accidentally.

Shot dead

A 26-year-old man was shot dead and two others, including a woman, were wounded in a firing incident on Tuesday, the first day of Eidul Azha, in Model Colony.

The police said that Farhan Ali, son of Raza Ali, was killed over a personal enmity and his elder brother, Murtaza Haider, had named the suspects in the FIR (205/2008).

However, they said, none of the four suspects – Raza Irani, Farzand Irani, Liaquat Irani and Rashid – had been arrested as they had gone underground.

The police said the suspects and the victim’s brother had quarrelled before Raza Irani and his accomplice opened fire at around 11pm.

They said an 18-year-old man, Amjad, and a 25-year-old woman, Sofia, wife of Arif, were also injured in the firing.

The body and the wounded were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal department told Dawn that Farhan Ali had received two fatal bullet wounds to the upper torso.

They said the wounded man and woman were discharged from the hospital after treatment as they were slightly wounded.

55 vehicles taken away

As many as 105 cellular phone sets and 55 vehicles – 42 motorcycles and 13 cars – were taken away in different parts of the city during the three days of Eid.

Officials at the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee told Dawn that in 48 armed holdups, committed across the city during the three days, the bandits snatched 42 mobile phones, a car and two motorcycles.

They said 42 mobile phones, six cars and 14 motorcycles were taken away on the first day of Eid, while 46 mobiles phones, eight cars and as many motorbikes were either stolen or snatched at gunpoint on the second day. The officials said 17 mobiles phones, five cars and 14 motorcycles were taken away by the evening on Thursday.