KARACHI, Aug 5: Ethnic and political violence in the city has killed 800 people so far this year, the country's independent human rights organisation said on Friday.

Parts of the city have become battlegrounds in recent weeks with authorities unable to prevent violence, blamed on activists from political parties representing competing ethnic groups, from spiralling.

The HCRP said the violence in the city was the deadliest since 1995 when more than 900 killings were reported in the first half of the year.

“About 800 people have been the victims of violent shootings in the last seven months,” Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told AFP.

The HRCP had previously stated that 490 people had been killed in the first half of this year. With over 300 more killings reported in July alone, the death toll increased to 800, according to the HRCP.

“The figures compiled by our staff and the death toll for the last month confirmed by the police shows the number of victims of violence was not less than 300,” said Ms Yusuf.

The government has campaigned to end the clashes and deployed hundreds of additional police and paramilitary forces in the city, but the killings have continued with 58 people reported dead in five days alone this week.

Much of the violence has been blamed on tensions between supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, rooted in the Urdu-speaking majority, and the Awami National Party, which represents the Pakhtuns.