KARACHI: Two activists of the outlawed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) were shot dead in what police described as a targeted attack apparently on sectarian grounds in North Karachi on Monday evening.

Central SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi told Dawn that assailants riding a motorbike emerged at a shop close to Masjid Siddique-i-Akbar near Nagan Chowrangi, opened indiscriminate fire and rode away.

As a result of firing, shop owner Shah Ahmed Awais Pirzada, 32, and his employee, Abu Bakar, 30, suffered critical bullet wounds. They were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

He said investigators collected five spent bullet casings fired from a 9mm pistol and also obtained CCTV footage from the spot.

West-Zone DIG Irfan Ali Baloch told Dawn that the double murder appeared to be an outcome of targeted killings linked with possible sectarianism.

He said a murder case was registered and the investigation had been handed over to the Counter-Terrorism Department.

He said CCTV footage showed both assailants wore masks.

Condemning the incident, an ASWJ spokesperson said that deceased Pirzada was a religious scholar and originally hailed from Gilgit.

He said that their party’s head office was located at Nagan Chowrangi, but the police did not provide them any security.

However, the DIG said it was the domain of the threat assessment committee to decide about provision of security.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2025