A senior lawyer was shot dead while his son was hurt in a suspected targeted attack in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority on Friday afternoon, according to police.

South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that the firing took place after a funeral prayer at a mosque in DHA Phase 6.

“As advocate Khawaja Shamsul Islam and his son [Khawaja Daniyal, 25] were about to leave the mosque, a lone gunman apparently resorted to firing on them and fled,” the DIG said. “Both father and son were shot and transported to a private hospital in Clifton, where Islam succumbed to his injuries.”

The DIG added that during the preliminary investigation, it transpired that a complainant nominated the slain advocate in a murder case, while in a later incident, Islam sustained injuries in Clifton.

Elaborating on the cases, DIG Raza recalled that in 2021, the complainant filed a first information report (FIR) with Boat Basin police against six to seven unidentified suspects for allegedly killing his father.

“The complainant also attempted to nominate Khawaja Shamsul Islam, but he failed to provide evidence. Thus, the case was disposed of as ‘A’ Class (untraced) by Investigation DSP Clifton division Jahanzaib Khan,” the DIG told Dawn.com.

Regarding the second incident, which occurred in 2024, the DIG said that the complainant, another advocate, filed an FIR alleging that while heading for Isha prayers with Khawaja Shamsul Islam in Zamzama neighbourhood of Karachi, they were “ambushed by the complainant in the first case along with 15-20 armed accomplices”.

“The attackers used firearms, iron rods and sticks, injuring Khawaja Shamsul Islam,” he alleged, adding that the attackers had gathered outside the mosque.

DIG Raza pointed out that a preliminary investigation of last year’s attack was conducted by Inspector Maqbool Meher and some suspects were also arrested by the police. However, the case was later transferred to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU)/Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Karachi as an “extortion matter”.

The official elaborated that one police security guard had been provided to Islam. “Incidentally, the poilce guard was outside the mosque at the time of the attack. The lawyer and his son were targeted inside the mosque.”

The DIG added that the private security guards of the mosque have been detained for questioning.

The body of the slain lawyer was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities. Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn.com that the advocate sustained “firearm injury to his chest, damaging vital organs and leading to irreversible hemorrhagic shock”.

The DIG has constituted a special team under the supervision of the South SSP to arrest the people, who murdered the advocate and injured his son.

The official said the prime suspect was the son of a police constable deployed for Islam’s security in the past as witnesses heard him saying that he had taken “revenge” for the murder of his father.

In a statement issued today, the Karachi Bar Association condemned the murder of Islam and announced that its members will not appear before any court on August 2 (Saturday) to express their solidarity with the slain senior laywer.

In April this year, a judge and a lawyer were shot dead in an armed attack on the motorway in Nowshera district.

Nowshera Deputy Commissioner Irfanullah Mehsud told Dawn.com that one of the slain, Mohammad Hayat, was working as a civil judge in Mardan and belonged to the Swat district.

“The other person was identified as Khalid Khan, a lawyer, belonging to Rustam area of Mardan, who was accompanying the judge.”

Mehsud said that they died on the spot and the bodies were moved to Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex.