KARACHI, April 24: Four more men, including two young footballers, were killed in separate targeted attacks on Tuesday as killings on ‘political and ethnic grounds’ continued unabated in the metropolis.

Police said assailants riding a motorcycle and a car targeted two young footballers —Shabbir and Azam — when they were heading towards Baloch Para on a motorcycle to see an ailing relative of theirs.

They said the incident took place at Jahangir Road No 2 within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters police station. The assailants fired on the two young men and escaped.

The police shifted the wounded to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where they died.

Following the incident, tension gripped Jahangir Road and Baloch Para and enraged people forced shopkeepers to shut their businesses. The protesters also burnt tyres on the main road. Extra police deployment was made in the area to control the situation.

Area DSP Qaiser Ali Shah said the assailants riding an Alto car and a motorcycle were apparently following the victims.

He said the victims were the resident of Shafia Goth in Malir and they were going to meet their relatives in Baloch Para and were targeted at Jahangir Road No 2.

He said the suspects used 9mm pistols and both victims received three bullets each to their head, face and chest.

Both victims were footballers and represented the Karachi Port Trust team, one as centre forward and the other as midfielder. They also played from different football clubs.

The area DSP said the two men had gone to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to inquire after the health of a relative, who had been discharged from the hospital and taken home in Baloch Para. They were heading to his house when they were targeted at Jehangir Road, he added.

The victims did not have any political affiliation and they did not have any criminal record, the police officer added.

The police suspected that it might be a case of killing on ethnic grounds.

Till late in the night, no case was registered at the Jamshed Quarters police station.

MQM activist shot dead in Pirabad An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was shot dead, while two minor boys were wounded in Orangi Town within the remit of the Pirabad police station on Tuesday.Police said the incident took place in Orangi Town No 4 near the Chhota graveyard, where Mohammad Omar Zaman, 42, was going somewhere when two armed men on a motorcycle targeted him.

He suffered seven bullet wounds and died on the spot, the police said, adding that after the firing the assailants were trying to escape but area people chased them and when they reached the Frontier Mor, the suspects opened indiscriminate fire again, wounding two passers-by —Azhar Raza, 10, and Aftab Hussain. They managed to escape.

The police shifted the body and the wounded to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The dead was a resident of the same area where the incident took place.

He was a member of the MQM’s Pakhtun Organising Committee and was working in the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital’s IT department.

The police described the incident as an act of targeted killing.

PPP worker’s son  shot dead A son of a Pakistan People’s Party’s activist was shot dead and his second son wounded near Shah Zob Hotel within the remit of the PIB Colony police station on Tuesday, police said.

They said two brothers — Gulab Khan, 22, and Saifullah, 24, — were sitting at Arbaz Khan bus stop on University Road near Shah Zob Hotel when two armed men on a motorcycle emerged there, shook hands with them and after an exchange of some words one of the assailants opened fire on them and fled.

The police shifted the wounded brothers to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Gulab Khan died, while Saifullah was under treatment in the ICU.

The investigating officer of the case said Saifullah was going to Quetta and his brother was with him at the bus stop when armed men targeted them. The police said their father, Akbar Khan, was the general secretary of PS-116 zone east of the PPP.

Tension gripped the Old Sabzi Mandi area and all commercial activities were shut in the surrounding areas.

PPP leader Sohail Abidi confirmed that the deceased was the younger son of PPP activist Akbar Khan.

He said the victim hailed from Balochistan and the incident was the latest in a series of targeted killing of PPP workers.

Man killed in Liaquatabad In another incident, a man, identified as Shamim Ahmed, 42, was shot dead in Ilyas Goth within the remit of the Supermarket police station.

Area DSP Rustam Khattak said he was standing near his home in Ilyas Goth in C-1 Area of Liaquatabad when two armed men riding a motorcycle emerged their, opened fire on him and rode away.

The victim was hit by a bullet in the head and died on the spot. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

He said that earlier two nephews of the victim, Imran and Sajid, who worked in the police department had been killed in a similar manner a few months back.

Quoting the statement of his family, the area DSP said they had enmity with someone and a few years back their house in Pak Colony was torched after which they had shifted to Ilyas Goth.

The police said that initial investigations suggested that Lyari gangsters might have been involved in the murder. However, the actual motive would be cleared after investigations.No case was registered till late in the night at the Supermarket police station.