KARACHI: A religious teacher was shot dead in a targeted attack soon after he came out of a mosque in Azizabad on Wednesday afternoon, the police said.

They added that when 27-year-old Sohaib Badar came out of the Madani mosque near Ayesha Manzil, Federal B. Area, Block-7, after offering Zuhar prayer, armed motorcyclists attacked him and fled.

He sustained critical wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

It appeared to be a targeted killing incident, Azizabad SHO Asim Rahman said.

He added that the victim belonged to the Deobandi school of thought and was a religious scholar associated with the Tableeghi Jamaat.

However, a spokesperson for the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat said that the deceased was their supporter.

Sohaib was a teacher in the Iqra Madrasatul-Illahi in Liaquatabad and resident of the same locality.

Two suspects killed in ‘encounter’

Two suspects were shot dead in an alleged encounter on Shahrah-i-Noorjahan in the early hours of Wednesday, the police said.

They added that the suspects were riding a motorbike when a police party on patrol reached near the Abdullah College roundabout in North Nazimabad.

On seeing the police, the suspects tried to flee and opened fire. The policemen went after them and an encounter ensued in which both suspects were gunned down, Gulberg SP Chaudary Asad Ali said.

The bodies were taken to the Edhi morgue for want of identification after medico-legal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The police claimed to have seized a motorbike and two pistols from their possession.

Shopkeeper killed

A shopkeeper was shot dead by suspected gangsters in Kalakot on Wednesday evening over suspicion of being an ‘informer’, the police said.

They added that Mohammed Ali was sitting at his shop when armed men attacked him and fled.

The victim and a passer-by, Abdul Rasheed, sustained bullet wounds and were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors pronounced the former dead on arrival. The latter received minor injuries.

Kalakot SHO Safdar Mashwani suspected that the shopkeeper was killed by members of the Uzair Baloch group over suspicion of being an informer of law enforcers.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play