KARACHI: Over 25 shops were destroyed by a huge fire that broke out in in Shershah market on Thursday.

Pak Colony SHO Mohammed Ashfaq Malik said the blaze broke out in the shops dealing in parts of old vehicles in a congested locality of the market at around 6:30am. Initially, a few fire tenders were but sent to put out the fire but their number was increased to around a dozen as the fire engulfed many shops.

Firemen faced great hardship in accessing the burning structures in narrow lanes of the locality. They, however, managed to control the blaze at about 1:30pm and started the cooling process, which was continuing into the evening.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that one fireman, Mohammed Akram, 35, was injured when the roof of a burning shop fell on him.

The blaze was attributed to an electrical short circuit. The exact losses to shopkeepers could not be estimated immediately, said the officer.

‘Honour killing’

A man and woman were shot dead in Baldia Town on Thursday.

SHO Chaudhry Shahid of the Mochko police station said that Ali Khan allegedly killed his wife, Momal, 20, and Rustam Sher, 23, in Raees Goth “for honour”.

The suspect was arrested, he said, adding that the bodies were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

Youth murdered

A 25-year old man was shot dead near football ground in the Patel Para locality of the Jamshed Quarters area on Thursday.

Area SHO Naveed Soomro said that Mohammed Asghar and a girl had come from their native place in Balochistan and were living in the Jamshed Quarters area. He believed that the girl’s relatives, who had also arrived in Karachi from Balochistan, might have shot dead the man.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

Shopkeeper shot dead by ‘robbers’

A young shopkeeper was shot dead by two armed men in the underground market located near Golimar Chowrangi in the Rizvia Society area on Thursday evening.

The area police said that the suspects arrived at the shop of Hasan Haroon, 30. One of them stayed outside the shop while the other went inside and demanded money from the shopkeeper. On resistance, Hasan Haroon was shot at and wounded.

Police officer Syed Rizwan Shah said that the suspect fled without taking away anything. The wounded shopkeeper tried to chase the fleeing suspects but fell down outside the nearby sweet shop, whose owner fired shots at the fleeing suspects but they managed to escape.

Hassan Haroon was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he died during treatment.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2022