KARACHI: A young man was shot dead in Korangi in a suspected sectarian attack that left his friend wounded on Saturday, police and party sources said.

They added armed motorcyclists gunned down 35-year-old Kamran Zaidi when he was busy in regular business at his mobile accessories shop in Korangi 3½.

“It is a busy area called Furniture Market,” said SHO of Korangi police station Inspector Zahid Soomro.

“Witnesses said that they saw two men pull up outside the shop, one of them got off the two-wheeler and fired shots at Kamran.”

The firing left him and another young man identified as 27-year-old Zeeshan Shakir wounded. They were taken to the Jinnah Postgra­duate Medical Centre (JPMC), but Kamran died on the way to hospital. Zeeshan was being treated at the hospital and said to be out of danger, the police added.

“The victim was a resident of the same area and was not associated with any political party, but his killing seemed to be linked with the recent wave of armed attacks on sectarian grounds,” said the Korangi SHO.

A spokesman for the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) condemned the killing of Kamran and described it as a failure on the part of the government to provide security to people despite assurances to them.

Woman found dead in apartment

In Korangi Industrial Area, a woman was found strangled to death in an apartment, the police said.

They added that the woman appeared to have died at least three days ago.

An official said the body was recovered after neighbours contacted the police complaining of a strong smell coming from the apartment.

The police broke the door open of the apartment and found the woman’s body, whose hands and legs were tied with ropes.

“The residential building is called Usman Heights,” he said.

“The victim has been identified as 55-year-old Bint-i-Zahra. She lived alone and was not in contact with any of her neighbours. The evidence suggests that it was not an act of suicide. The semi-decomposed body led us to conclude that she had been strangled to death at least three days ago. So far no one has approached the police as a relative or a family member of the victim.”

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2014