Five dead in attacks on clinics in Karachi

Published September 1, 2013
— File photo
— File photo

KARACHI: A homoeopath and four other people were killed when gunmen attacked two clinics in Landhi area of the city on Saturday night. Four people were injured.

In the first incident, at least four attackers sprayed a clinic in Shah Latif Town with bullets, killing four people and injuring two men and two women, police said.

Investigators found the incident to be the result of personal enmity. However, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement claimed that the clinic was owned by a member of one of its committees.

“The clinic is situated in Bhains Colony of Shah Latif Town,” Malir SP Ahmed Jamal said. “Initial investigations suggest that four to six armed men came on two motorcycles and entered the clinic. They fired on people inside the clinic and escaped.”

He said the clinic was owned by Dr Ghulam Sarwar Dahri, who was a member of the MQM’s Muzafati Organising Committee. The doctor escaped unhurt, but his son Ghulam Murtaza and nephew Salim Dahri lost their lives, the SP said.

An official at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) said two of the injured died during treatment, bringing the death toll to four.

“They have been identified as Khadim Hussain Lashari and Shahzad Ayub. The injured were Afshan, Kiran, Haq Nawaz and Abdul Hakeem. One of the injured is in critical condition,” he said.

In the other incident, a homoeopath belonging to the Ahmadi community was shot dead.

Police said gunmen targeted 55-year-old Syed Tahir Ahmad when he was in his clinic, checking patients.

“He ran the clinic in one of the rooms of his 120-yard house in Khurramabad,” said an official of the Landhi police station. “Two men pretending to be patients came to him and one of them fired at him.”

A father of five, the homoeopath suffered two bullet wounds and died, the police official said.

His body was taken to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities.

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