KARACHI: A young shopkeeper was shot dead by robbers in the Al-Falah area on Friday morning, police said.

They said that Shoaib Salam, 25, opened his shop in Al-Badar Society, Malir, when two robbers riding a motorcycle arrived there.

Al-Falah SHO Rao Umair told Dawn the robbers held him at gunpoint and snatched cash from him. When they were fleeing, their bike fell in a ditch on the dug-up road. Shoaib chased the suspects and overpowered one of them.

He said that the second robber first fired into the air and then at Shoaib and got his accomplice released. Both the robbers managed to escape.

The shopkeeper sustained critical bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The victim originally hailed from Rahim Yar Khan and his family has taken the body there for burial.

Two suspects killed in ‘encounter’

Two suspected robbers were gunned down, while three others, including two in wounded condition, were arrested after an “encounter” in Surjani Town on Friday, police and rescue services officials said.

They said the encounter took place on the Northern Bypass, where an exchange of fire occurred between police and the suspects. Five suspects, including four who were injured, were apprehended.

They were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where two of them, identified as Irfan Raheem and Safdar Shoukat, were pronounced dead while Dilawar Abdullah and Sohail Husain, both wounded, were admitted for treatment. The fifth suspect was identified as Hamza Mehtab.

Police claimed to have recovered four pistols with ammunition, five snatched mobile phones, cash and two motorcycles from their possession.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026