KARACHI: An activist of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat was gunned down and another worker wounded in the Garden area on Wednesday evening while they were returning home after attending a rally, police and ASWJ sources said.

Two passers-by, including a 40-year-old woman, also received gunshot wounds in the attack.

The ASWJ took out a huge rally on M.A. Jinnah Road to mark the death anniversary of Hazrat Abu Bakar on Wednesday.

An official at the Soldier Bazaar police station said that the ASWJ had organised a march in Lasbella to observe ‘Hazrat Abu Bakr Day’. After the march, the activists were returning home when four suspects riding two motorcycles opened fire on them on Nishter Road near Zeenat Mahal, leaving four persons wounded. They were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi where doctors pronounced one of them, Amjad Khan, 35, dead on arrival.

Zubaida Ali, Mohammed Tayab and Saeed Noshad were admitted for treatment.

The ASWJ spokesperson said that the firing incident occured after their rally had ended. He said the deceased was an activist of their group in Hazara Colony of Lyari. He added that Tayab was also their worker. He said that rivals attacked the ASWJ workers.

While addressing the rally, ASWJ leaders demanded that the government grant official status to ‘Yaum-i-Siddiq-i-Akbar.’

Those who addressed the rally included Dr Fayyaz Alam, Qari Rab Nawaz Hanfi, Maulana Mavia Azam and Taj Hanfi.