KARACHI, April 28: Two young brothers, associated with Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), formerly known as Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, were shot dead outside their home-cum-shop in Manzoor Colony on Thursday, police and party sources said. The officials said that Khalid Iqbal and Kamran Iqbal were sitting outside their furniture shop, set up on the ground floor of their home near Gujjar Chowk in Manzoor Colony, when three men riding a motorbike pulled up close to them.

“Two of the riders got off the motorbike and fired at the two brothers,” said Jamshed Town SSP Amir Farooqi.

He added that the attackers escaped, leaving both dead on the spot.

“Each of the brothers had received four to five bullets mainly in the head, chest and faces.”

The firing caused tension in the densely-populated neighbourhood as traders pulled down shutters and traffic in the area disappeared gradually.

“Both the victims were our workers and associated with the party’s organisational structure in Maznoor Colony and Mehmoodabad,” said Taj Hanafi of the ASWJ.

“It’s really unfortunate that despite several assurances by the authorities not a single killer of our workers has been brought to justice.”

He described the frequent killings of ASWJ workers as an attempt to cause sectarian unrest in the city by an unseen ‘third force’.

The security establishment should move in to handle the menace before it was too late, he warned.