KARACHI, Aug 2: An uneasy calm returned to the strife-hit parts of the city on Tuesday though random incidents of firing claimed over half of a dozen lives sowing fear in a few scattered areas, officials said.

A series of meetings between federal and provincial authorities and security administration apparently brought some respite for the residents of Surjani Town and Orangi Town, where three-day violence had left over 50 people dead and forced many others to flee homes.

In the early hours of the day, two young men were killed and their two friends wounded in a car ambush on University Road in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

The area police said armed riders attacked the car bearing registration number AKH-811 near the Federal Urdu University of Science and Technology before speeding away.

“The firing left Waqar and Naeem dead. Their friends, Adnan and Waqas, sitting on the back seat sustained bullet wounds but survived,” said an official at the Aziz Bhatti police station.

“All the victims were in their mid-20s and lived in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Initially, there were some reports about their political association but no one contacted the police in this regard.”

The bodies of two young men stuffed in gunny bags were found off the Northern Bypass, said an official at the Surjani Town police station.

“Both the victims, clad in shalwar kameez, had suffered a fatal gunshot wound each in the head. The bodies have been shifted to the Edhi morgue after medico-legal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for want of identification,” he added.

In a similar way, two gunny bags stuffed with the bodies of two men were found lying abandoned near Islam Nagar in Ansari Muhallah of Orangi Town.

“The victims had several marks of torture besides bullet wounds in the head, chest and abdomen,” said Iqbal Market SHO Inspector Matiullah. “The victims remained unidentified though we believe they were not from this area and were killed after being kidnapped from some other locality.”

In Old Golimar, the body of a young man stuffed in a gunny bag was found from the trunk of a car lying abandoned on a roadside, said Rizvia SHO Inspector Masroor Ejaz.

He said the victim with a bullet wound in the head remained unidentified. After medico-legal formalities at the Civil Hospital, the body was shifted to the Edhi morgue, he added.

Earlier, a 27-year-old man was killed near his home in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Witnesses were quoted as saying that he was chased and killed near Safoora Chowrangi by two men riding a motorbike. “Farhan Baloch was on his way home after meeting some friends when some armed riders targeted him,” said Sachal SHO Inspector Shabbir Mustafa.

The police said the victim had association with some political activists in the area but he was not associated with any party.