KARACHI: A young trader was shot dead in a suspected targeted attack in Azizabad, police said on Wednesday.

They said that Hassan Ali Bantva, 23, was gunned down in Block-3, F.B. Area.

Azizabad SHO Waqar Kaiser said that the victim had a mobile phone shop in Saddar electronics market. He usually closed his shop between 10:30pm to 11pm and returned home.

On Tuesday night, he arrived at his brother’s cell phone shop in Siddiqabad, Azizabad at around midnight. As his brother went home, he stayed at the shop for around 10 minutes and in the meantime three assailants riding two motorcycles emerged there, the SHO said.

He said the pillion rider on one of the bikes resorted to indiscriminate firing and they all rode away.

Bantva sustained four bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The officer said the murder appeared to be a targeted killing incident but the exact motive would be ascertained after investigations.

The officer said the police are waiting for relatives to lodge an FIR to formally initiate legal proceedings.

Investigators have collected four spent bullet casings fired from a 9mm pistol at the crime scene.

His funeral prayers were held in Bantva Nagar and he was laid to rest at the Sakhi Hasan graveyard on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2025