KARACHI, April 3: A clearing and forwarding agent, a CNG station manager and a young scout were killed in different parts of the city apparently in sectarian attacks on Tuesday, police said.

Syed Naseem Abbas Naqvi, 35, was gunned down in front of a homoeopathic medicine market across the Dow Medical College at around 9am, said a duty officer of the Arambagh police station.

“The victim was a clearing and forwarding agent and he was probably heading to work on his motorcycle when he was targeted,” said Preedy ASP Ali Asif. A single shot fired at his face caused his instant death, he said.

The body was shifted to the nearby Civil Hospital Karachi, the police officer said, adding that the possibility of sectarian motive behind the killing could not be ruled out.

Police were not sure about the number of attackers and the transport they used.

The ASP said the victim lived in the Waheedabad area of Rizvia Society.

An FIR (103/2012) was later registered at the Arambagh police station under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of Yawar Abbas, a brother of the victim.

Tension gripped parts of Rizvia following the incident. Gunfire compelled traders to pull down shutters. The sanitary market in Golimar was closed and traffic was suspended on Golimar Road, causing traffic congestion in Nazimabad, Gurumandir and the Lasbela area.

The victim's body was brought to the Rizvia Imambargah, where funeral prayers were offered in the evening.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a CNG station manager was shot dead in Nazimabad.

Asghar Jafri, 50, was targeted under the Nazimabad flyover, said Liaquatabad Division SP Noman Siddiqui.

The SP said he was returning from the CNG station located in SITE when he was sprayed with bullets. He sustained five gunshot wounds. The victim was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His funeral prayers were held at Ancholi Imambagrah before the body was taken to the Wadi-i-Hussain graveyard for burial.

A 35-year-old man was shot dead in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

While police said Sajid Husain, 35, was associated with a drug peddling gang of Mudassir Chief and was targeted by members of a political party active in the Pehlwan Goth area, a spokesman for the Shia Rabita Council said the victim was a member of Al Hussainia Scout group and was targeted on sectarian grounds.

The victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Later the body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

Fear and tension gripped parts of Gulistan-i-Jauhar with closure of markets following the killing.

SP Gulshan Salam Shaikh said according to initial information he had received the victim was a member of the Mudassir Chief group.

In the evening, some youths took to the streets against the killing. They blocked traffic by burning tyres on roads and hurling stones at vehicles.

Expressing concern over the killings of the three men within a span of 24 hours in the city, Secretary General of the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen Raja Nasir Abbas demanded that the government ensure arrest of killers. He condemned what he described as a systemic killing of the people belonging to the Shia community.

In the late hours, violent protests erupted in different parts of the city against the targeted killing of the people belonging to the Shia community in Karachi, Gilgit and Chilas.

A van of the Samanabad police station and an ambulance were set on fire on Shahrah-i-Pakistan. The violence forced closure of markets on the road.

A similar situation emerged on University Road near Nipa, where protesters compelled traders to pull down shutters.