KARACHI: A boy was killed and a girl and three women were among the over 20 people wounded as several areas of the metropolis reverberated with New Year jubilant aerial firing on Saturday midnight, police and hospital officials said.

The seven-year-old boy was hit with a stray bullet near Ayesha Manzil in Azizabad.

The police said Subhan with his father, Irfan, was travelling on a motorbike when unidentified people fired gunshots to herald New Year.

The child sustained bullet wounds in the head and was taken to a private hospital in Nazimabad, where he died.

In other aerial firing incidents in several localities, at least 20 people sustained bullet wounds, said police and hospital sources.

“We received 10 people brought with injuries from several areas,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Among the injured were seven-year-old girl Arba and three women. Arba sustained bullet wounds in Liaquatabad. Her condition was critical as she received bullet injuries in her abdomen, added Dr Jamali.

Later on, she was referred to the National Institute of Child Health for further treatment.

Among the three wounded women, the condition of Afshan was serious because she also received bullet wounds in her abdomen in Jacob Lines.

Meanwhile, a police spokesperson said that Asad Razzaq, 35, and Shaharyar Jaffar, 25, received bullet wounds near the Kharadar police post.

Fourteen-year-old Raheel Latif was hit by a stray bullet on Kashmir Road near Jail Chowrangi.

In Garden 40-year-old Inayat Qadir was shot at and wounded near Ramaswami.

Seventy-year-old Syed Mustafa

Qasim received a stray bullet at Soldier Bazaar-3 while 25-year-old Waqas received bullet wounds near Noorani Kabab House.

Eighty-year-old Mushtaq received stray bullet near Bilal Masjid in Landhi-6.

Pir Sattar Shah, 40, was wounded near the Hasanzai restaurant in Patel Para.

In Baldia, Hussain Sattar, 20, was wounded while in Pak Colony Amar Gul, 41, was wounded in jubilant firing.

A man, Zahid Shakoor, 25, was shot at and wounded when people resorted to firing in Shah Faisal Colony while 30-year-old Safeer Shah was injured in Abidabad, Baldia.

Meanwhile, around a dozen youngsters were detained in the Clifton and Defence areas on Saturday night for rowdyism, said South SSP Saqib Ismail Memon.

He added that two police officers were also arrested and suspended for resorting to firing into the air in jubilation outside the Clifton police station.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2017