KARACHI, Jan 22: Three young men were shot dead and their bodies set on fire inside a Saeedabad house on Saturday, police said.

Suspecting it to be a result of the ongoing warfare between Lyari gangsters, the police said that the incident came to the notice of the area people when they saw clouds of thick smoke billowing out of an abandoned house.

The area people rushed there and found the three partially burnt bodies. They informed the police about the incident and the bodies were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi.

Doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination told the Saeedabad police that the three men were shot dead and then their bodies were set on fire.

“Two of the victims have been identified as Muhammad Ali Baloch and Abdul Majeed alias Majju,” said an official at the Saeedabad police station. “Both of them were associated with a Lyari gang led by Abdul Jabbar alias Jaingo. However, we are trying to establish the identity of the third victim, but we believe that he was also their aide.”

The official said that so far the police had not found any witness who saw any movement near the house or heard gunshots.

The police said that both Baloch and Majju were allegedly involved in more than 20 criminal cases, including of murder and kidnapping for ransom, registered at different police stations.

Baldia Town SP Akram Abro said that though the ownership of the house was unclear, the police came to know that it was illegally occupied by Majju who used to come there frequently along with his aides.

He said that two empty magazines of an AK-47 assault rifle were recovered from the house but no spent bullet casing was found.

He said that it appeared that more than one man was involved in the attack and they, most probably, used AK-47 rifles.

“It seems that the attackers deliberately left behind the empty magazines to make it abundantly clear that they used the deadly weapon and sprayed the victims with bullets to show their anger or perhaps their level of enmity,” the SP said.The killings appeared to be a result of a rivalry between Lyari gangsters, he said, adding that the police found some key leads that would help determining the motive behind the incident.

Biker shot dead near Ayesha Manzil

A 30-year-old man was shot dead near Ayesha Manzil while he was on his way home on his motorbike on Saturday, police said.

They said the victim, identified as Nasim, son of Mahbood, was attacked by two men riding a motorbike.

“The victim was intercepted seconds after he crossed the Ayesha Manzil intersection,” said an official at the Jauherabad police station. “The victim received two bullets in the head and neck and died on the spot. The attackers escaped from the scene.”

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. The police said that the victim was a resident of 13D-3, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, and third among nine siblings.

“His political affiliation is not yet confirmed but the family said that one of the victim’s brothers was a political activist and targeted a few years ago,” added the official at the Jauharabad police station.

In another incident, a man in his early 50s was gunned down in Gulistan-i-Jauher on Saturday.

The area police said that Akhtar Gul Bangash was hit by two bullets when a man riding a motorbike fired at him and fled in the Pehalwan Goth area.

“The victim was a security guard by profession,” said an official at the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station. “Initial investigations suggest that the killing was the result of some family feud and we have almost reached the conclusion.”

He said the victim was in dispute with his son-in-law for a few weeks on some domestic issue and an exchange of hot words between the two took place yesterday.

“Some family members tried to mediate to resolve the dispute. The family’s suspicion falls on the victim’s son-in-law, who resembles the appearance of the lone killer, seen by some people who happened to be at the scene of the incident,” added the official.