KARACHI: A worker of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was shot dead in a suspected incident of targeted killing in Azizabad on Saturday, police said.

They added that Mohammed Asif, 43, was gunned down near Madni Masjid in Federal B. Area’s Block-8.

The Azizabad police said he was going home after offering Asr prayer at the mosque when armed pillion riders intercepted him, opened fire and rode away.

Asif sustained a critical bullet wound in the neck and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, said Police Surgeon Qarar Ahmed Abbasi.

The police said it appeared to be a targeted killing incident.

Investigators collected two spent bullet casings fired from a .30-bore pistol from the crime scene.

PTI lawmaker Jamal Siddiqi told Dawn that the victim was their “active worker” in the area.

He questioned the performance of the provincial government saying the other day a female medical student was gunned down in the presence of her father in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and today a political worker was killed in Azizabad.

Another PTI legislator, Khurram Sher Zaman, asked the police and other authorities to arrest the killers.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan convenor and federal minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi and other members of the party’s coordination committee condemned the targeted killing incident in Azizabad.

“Attempts [are] being made again to sabotage peaceful atmosphere in Karachi,” Dr Siddiqi said

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the killing and sought a detailed report from the city police chief, said a spokesperson.

He asked how the incident took place and whether it was a targeted killing incident.

He directed the police to extend full cooperation to the victim’s family.

Meanwhile, three people were killed in separate road accidents in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Sarwar Khan, 37, was hit and killed by a fast-moving vehicle in the Mauripur area. A 17-year-old unknown man was hit and killed by a vehicle in the New Sabzi Mandi area. Sawar, 5, was hit and killed by a vehicle in Landhi’s Mueenabad area.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2019