KARACHI, March 19: A Ranger and a passerby were shot dead while two Rangers were wounded, one of them critically, on Friday when some unidentified men sprayed their van with bullets beneath the Baloch Colony flyover on Sharea Faisal. Three other passers-by also suffered bullet wounds.

"It was a targeted attack on rangers' picket", Jamshed town police officer Fayyaz Qureshi told Dawn. He said that a rangers van of 93-wing was parked beneath the Baloch Colony flyover on a security duty.

A car, carrying four persons and bearing a government registration number, came close to the van, and opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons. The assailants also tossed a grenade which exploded and partially damaged the van.

Mr Qureshi said that a police guard, posted at a nearby bank, heard gunshots and came out to see the situation. He took position and opened fired at the assailants, who got panicky and sped away.

A spokesman for the rangers, Mohammad Imran, endorsed the TPO Jamshed's statement, saying that six personnel were deployed at the picket. He said that the rangers sepoy Mohammad Ishtiaq died on the spot.