KARACHI: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday lodged an FIR regarding killing of a policeman, who was gunned down in what investigators described as a suspected targeted attack in New Karachi on Monday.

An official said that the FIR was lodged under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 against unknown attackers.

“Police are investigating the murder case from three different angles. It was not a mugging attempt for sure. Therefore we are focusing more on terror and sectarian aspects,” said CTD official Raja Umar Khattab.

Monday’s killing was the second such incident to take place in Karachi in a short span of around one week.

Constable Syed Ahmed Abbas, 42, was posted at the New Karachi police station. On Monday afternoon, armed motorcyclists targeted him when he reached his home in Sector 11-D near Imambargah Karwan-i-Hyderi in a rickshaw along with his father.

Earlier on Oct 3, a traffic police official was gunned down at Karachi’s Matka Chowk by unidentified assailants.

An official privy to the details of the initial probe said that the immediate findings suggested the same pattern of killings adopted by banned outfits in the past.

“For instance, it emerges that a new .30-bore pistol was used for the killing which was not used before in any criminal activity,” he said. “Similarly, the killers were well aware of the routine and travelling route of the victim which suggested that they were following him for quite some time before hitting him point blank.”

He said that this led to the decision from the police authorities to assign the task of investigation to the CTD since it deals with such cases.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018