KARACHI: A 50-year-old surgeon was shot dead in a targeted attack soon after he came out of a private hospital in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Wednesday, the Sharea Faisal police said.

After performing his duty in the outpatient department, Dr Syed Haider Raza left the Darul Sehat Hospital in his car for his residence in Gulshan-i-Iqbal in the evening.

Three suspects riding a motorcycle and wearing helmets intercepted him, said Karachi East SSP Syed Pir Mohammed Shah.

They fired at him at point-blank range in the temple and fled, the police added. The victim died within seconds on the spot.

The incident occurred at the turning point of the same hospital.

He was taken to the same hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

“It appeared to be an act of targeted killing,” the SSP said.

However, he ruled out the possibility of sectarianism behind the murder and added that the victim was Sunni. “His father is Shia while his mother is Sunni,” the police officer added.

However, a spokesperson for Majlis-i-Wahdat Muslimeen claimed that it was an act of sectarianism as the victim doctor was Shia.

While condemning the killing, the spokesperson added that this was the second murder of a Shia doctor in the city over past two days.

The deceased, father of two, was a surgeon and head of the emergency section of the hospital.