KARACHI: Investigators probing the targeted killing of four polio workers in the city on Tuesday are waiting for the forensic reports of the spent bullet casings recovered from three scenes of crime to establish whether the incidents are linked, it emerged on Wednesday.

Four polio workers — Fahmida, Madiha, Kaneez Fatima and Naseem — were killed in three attacks in Landhi’s Gulshan-i-Buner, Orangi Town and Ittehad Town on Tuesday.

The investigators suspected that the attacks in Orangi Town and Ittehad Town that fell within the west zone of the police organisational structure might have been carried out by the same assailants, since both areas were close to each other.

“We are waiting for the forensic reports to see if there is any link between the west zone and Gulshan-i-Buner killings,” said DIG-East Shahid Hayat.

The investigators said that 9mm pistols were used in the killing of the four polio workers. The spent bullet casings had been dispatched for a forensic examination to match them with the available database, they added.

Meanwhile, a case (FIR 218/2012) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint of Sadiq, son of the slain polio worker Naseem, against unidentified assailants at the Iqbal Market police station.

Naseem was shot dead and her co-worker Mohammad Israr was wounded in Raja Taveer Colony close to Toori Bangash Colony in Orangi Town on Tuesday.

The second FIR (632/2012) was lodged under the anti-terror law. Wounded polio worker Rashid lodged the FIR under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 against unidentified suspects at the Mochko police station. Polio worker Kaneez Fatima was killed in the attack in Mohammad Khan Colony, Ittehad Town on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday night, a case (FIR 651/2012) was registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC in connection with the killing of two polio workers, Fahmida and Madiha, at the Quaidabad police station on a complaint of Fahmida’s husband Mohammad Riaz.

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