KARACHI: Fear gripped parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and a few housing societies in Scheme-33 on Monday after armed attacks and an exchange of fire killed at least four people and left at least five wounded, including a man and his 12-year-old son, police and witnesses said.
The firing incidents that erupted about an hour before sunset continued into the night, prompting the police and the Rangers only to cordon off the affected areas and launch a snap checking of motorists.
Showing unawareness about the motive and people behind the firing, police said they had spotted the affected areas and would launch a ‘search operation’.
In the first incident, armed riders targeted young men sitting outside an electronics shop near Asma Garden in Scheme 33 along the main Abul Hasan Ispahani Road.
The police said the two men on a motorbike fired shots at Zain, Mansoor and Nawab while two more riders were backing them up.
“The firing left the three men wounded. They were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital,” said an official at the Mubina Town police station.
“Zain and Mansoor died during treatment. Zain was the owner of the shop and a resident of the nearby Scout Colony while Mansoor was his friend and had come to see him from Federal B Area.”
Though the police denied political association of any of the victims, they said the younger brother of Zain was an active member of a political party.
The firing sparked tension in the area and forced traders to pull down shutters before sunset. As the investigators were trying to trace links behind the double murders, within the next few minutes of it armed men struck in Gulistan-i-Jauhar that led to an exchange of fire in and outside the Rabia City housing scheme.
An official at the Sharea Faisal police station confirmed the death of a man identified as Salman Javed in the firing, but said he was a pedestrian killed in crossfire.
The causality unit of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre received another body from the same area. It remained unidentified. The firing turned intense after sunset and left five people wounded.
“Four or five persons have been wounded. They include a man whose 12-year-old son has also sustained wounds in the wrist,” said SP Waqar Mullahan of Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town.
“We have spotted the area inside Rabia City from where the firing started and led to a group clash-like situation. More police force has been called in backed by Rangers personnel, who would search certain pockets of the residential scheme.”
The police and a heavy contingent of Rangers later cordoned off the roads leading out of and into Rabia City, which affected traffic movement in certain blocks on Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Scheme-33.
In Shershah, at least a body was found in a storm-water drain which the police said had marks of torture and gunshot wounds. The victim was said to have been killed three days ago.
An official at the Shershah police station said the police found the body along the Lyari river near the old truck stand which was later shifted to the Civil Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
“The victim was tortured and shot twice in the chest. The body has been shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification,” he added.
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