KARACHI: A young soldier was shot dead by suspected robbers on resistance in Korangi in the early hours of Thursday morning, police said.

They added that 22-year-old Irfan Yaseen was sitting outside his relatives’ home in Korangi-3 when two suspects riding a motorcycle approached him to snatch cell phone and other valuables. As he put up resistance, the robbers shot him into the head, said Landhi SP Afnan Amin.

He sustained critical wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he died soon after arrival, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department.

The SP Landhi said that the victim was a soldier who had arrived in the city on leave to visit his relatives.

Following the killing of the army man, the police launched an operation at 3am on Thursday, which continued for hours in which several suspects were rounded up for interrogation.

“We have got some clues about the identity of the killers and we hope that they would soon be arrested,” said SP Amin.

He also revealed that the police had reached an agreement with the biggest market of sale/purchase of mobile phones in Korangi-4 under which, the shopkeepers would be bound not to buy or sell ‘stolen/snatched’ cell phones and phones without documents.

Under the agreement, a dispute resolution committee was set up comprising representatives of police and the mobile market association.

The officer expressed the hope that with the agreement, the cell phone snatching incidents in Korangi might register a decline.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016