KARACHI: Two men, including a doctor, were gunned down in separate attacks apparently on sectarian grounds in the city on Tuesday, police said. They added that in Landhi a doctor was shot dead and his brother wounded in the evening.

Dr Amir Mehdi, 56, was sitting at his ‘Rifah-i-Aam Clinic’ in Landhi-2 when two assailants riding on a motorcycle emerged there, fired shots and rode away. The doctor and his compounder brother, Nihal Ali, suffered bullet wounds and were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Dr Mehdi was pronounced dead.

“Investigators are inquiring into the exact motive of the murder,” said Landhi SP Akhter Farooq. However, a spokesperson for the Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) said the victim was Shia and it was an act of sectarian killing.

Earlier, in the Pak Colony area a man was gunned down.

The police said that 40-year-old Abbas Haider Zaidi was travelling in a car when four assailants riding two motorcycles intercepted him at the Kamal petrol pump near Bara Board and fired at him. He sustained two bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

The Pak Colony SHO said that it appeared to be an act of sectarian killing. He added that the victim worked in a factory in SITE and lived in Federal B Area. He was targeted when his vehicle slowed down at a bump.

Meanwhile, the MWM condemned the killing and urged the Sindh government to launch a crackdown on terrorists.

The MWM’s Karachi chapter secretary general, Hassan Hashmi, said the provincial government had promised a stern action to eliminate terrorists but it failed to do so.

“We warn the government to end its inaction and take practical measures immediately to purge Sindh, including Karachi, of terrorists, otherwise we reserve the right to protest against the government,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2014