KARACHI: A policeman was gunned down in a targeted attack in Korangi Industrial Area on Friday evening, said police.

They added that police constable Arif Khan left his home in Mehran Town and was on his way to join his duty at Madadgar-15 on his motorbike when armed motorcyclists came and fired a single shot at his head from behind and fled.

The killers also took away his pistol.

He suffered critical bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the hospital.

The victim was wearing police uniform at the time of the incident.

“It appears to be a targeted killing incident,” said CTD DIG Omar Shahid Hamid.

Referring to recent targeted killings of other policemen in the metropolis, the CTD officer added that they were focusing on whether any militant or ethnic group was involved or if these killings were motivated by personal considerations.

Another CTD officer, Raja Umar Khattab, told Dawn that this was the fifth policemen’s killing this year and second such incident in Korangi.

The victim was the second such policeman who was posted at Madadgar-15, he added. The other four policemen have been martyred in Baloch Colony, Saddar, SITE Superhighway and Awami Colony area of Korangi.

One common factor behind these killings was that the killers took away the pistol of the victim, he said.

“Today’s killing of the policeman is also different from other targeted killings in the respect that a 9mm pistol has been used and the target was the head of the officer.”

In previous killings, 30-bore pistols were used and the culprits did not target the policemen’s head, he said.

He said it appeared that Arif Khan was assassinated after reconnaissance at a short distance from his home.

Investigators have collected one spent bullet casing, which has been sent to the police forensic science lab to ascertain as to whether the same weapon has been used in past murders.

Meanwhile, IGP Sindh Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar has taken notice of the killing of the policeman and sought a report from Korangi SSP.

Guard found dead

The tortured body of a private security guard was found in Nazimabad No. 3 on Friday, said police.

They added that the body of a man identified as Goa, 66, with torture marks was recovered from the roof of a private bank.

The corpse was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to fulfil medico-legal formalities.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020