KARACHI, June 8: The killing of an activist of the Awami National Party in Orangi Town on Wednesday sparked sporadic violence in the neighbourhood in which two girls were wounded and a private vehicle was set on fire, police and witnesses said.

The police said that 19-year-old Javed Khan alias Tooti Khan was targeted at his stall in a weekly bazaar on Manghopir Road near Qasba Colony. The market was filled with buyers at the time of the attack. Traders witnessed that a man came close to the victim, fired a single shot at his head and escaped along with an accomplice who was waiting for him on a motorcycle.

“We have reason to believe that it was purely related to some personal dispute or enmity,” said Orangi Town SP Khurram Waris. “There was a single attacker and initial investigations suggest that traders in the market and the victim himself knew him very well. However, witnesses are reluctant to share facts with investigators after the matter became politicised.”

A spokesman for the ANP, however, blamed extortionists for the murder of his party worker. “The victim was a resident of Sector 1-D in Orangi Town and associated as an active worker of the party’s UC-12 ward. His killing is part of a persistent threat to political workers in the city,” he added.

Following the incident, armed men reached the weekly bazaar and fired multiple shots into the air forcing the traders to wrap up their business much before the scheduled time. Intense firing caused panic in Qasba Colony, Banaras Chowk and a few blocks of Orangi Town.

Two minor girls — nine-year-old Hina and 10-year-old Nazima — sustained bullet wounds at Shahzad Mor near Qasba Colony when they were going home along with their family in a car. They were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they were said to be in a stable condition.

In the same area, armed men intercepted a hi-roof van, bearing registration number CN-1103, dragged out the family from the vehicle and set it on fire.

Officials at the central fire station said that a fire tender was dispatched to the spot but it could not reach there due to a security threat amid heavy gunfire and fears of arson attacks.