KARACHI: Four men allegedly belonging to a criminal gang operating in Malir were killed in two incidents, police said on Wednesday.

They said that a joint raid of police and Rangers was carried out in Salar Goth where in an ensuing encounter two suspects were gunned down.

They were identified as Muhammad Arif alias Billa, 28, and Shan alias Shani Mohajir, 28.

Malir City DSP Rao Muhammad Iqbal said that they were members of the Sohail Dada gang, which is also linked with gangs in Lyari.

Earlier, the Memon Goth police said two young men were found shot dead in ‘Ber Sharif ground’.

The bodies were moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination. They were identified as Aman alias PMT, 22, and Muhammad Asif, 23.

Memon Goth SHO Naeem Khan claimed that they were members of the Sohail Dada gang.

They lived in Ghazi Goth and Daud Goth, respectively, he added.

Also on Tuesday, bodies of two unidentified men were found within the remit of the same police station.

According to the Memon Goth SHO, the two men were identified on Wednesday as Gul Rehman and Muhammad Ali. Both of them were also members of the Sohail Dada gang, he claimed.

Meanwhile, area people, especially women and children, took to the streets to lodge their protest against the targeted operation of the law enforcement agencies.

The protesters staged a demonstration outside the Malir district courts, where the police resorted to teargas shelling to disperse them.

The Malir City police said that no one was arrested and the protesters dispersed after the police lobbed ‘three to four teargas shells’ and the National Highway was cleared for traffic.

Man shot dead in ‘sectarian’ attack

A man was gunned down in suspected sectarian attack in Federal B Area on Wednesday evening.

The Yousuf Plaza police said that Qari Jamil Rehman, 35, was riding a motorcycle when armed men, also on a motorbike, targeted him near Saghir Centre.

A passer-by, Shahid Zaman, was also hurt in the firing.

Qari Rehman sustained five bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

The police said the victim was a resident of Quaid-i-Azam Colony in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. He left his residence for Sakhi Hasan to teach children Quran. It appeared that the assailants chased him and then targeted him.

It might be a case of sectarian killing, said SSP-Central Amir Farooqi.

He said the victim returned to the city from his native town in Punjab on Tuesday.

Killing in Pak Colony

A young man was shot dead in Pak Colony on Wednesday, according to police.

They said that Kashif Iqbal was standing outside his home in Muslimabad in Old Golimar when gunmen fired at him and fled.

The wounded was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi where he was pronounced dead.

Pak Colony SHO Munir Chandio said that the victim, who originally hailed from Hazara, was killed over an old enmity.

Guard killed

A private security guard was killed in the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan area under mysterious circumstances, police said.

They said that Yaqub Akbar, 37, was performing his duty in North Nazimabad’s Block-I when a bullet fired from an undisclosed location hit him in the back. He was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The police said they were probing the incident.

Suspect killed in ‘encounter’

A suspected robber was shot dead in a police encounter in the Rizvia Society area on Wednesday, police said.

Rizvia Society SHO Hasan Haider said that three suspects got off from a rickshaw at Lasbella bridge and entered a passenger bus and started looting the commuters. When the bus reached near the Hyderi mosque in Gulbahar, the passengers raised a hue and cry, alerting a police patrol.

The policemen chased the suspects and in an ensuing encounter two of them suffered bullet wounds. Afzal Abdullah, a suspect, was arrested but his accomplice managed to escape in a rickshaw along with the second wounded suspect, Asfar Khan. Later, he was found dead in the rickshaw in the Jamshed Quarters area.

The body and the wounded were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Man killed in Mubarak village

An elderly man, identified as Haroon Hasil, 65, was shot dead in Mubarak Village on Wednesday.

The Mauripur police said he was killed allegedly by his nephew Khurram over a land dispute. The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.