KARACHI, May 18: A woman going to a morgue to claim the bodies of her three sons who had been killed recently was injured seriously in an ambush on Friday. Three men who were with her at the time were killed in the pre-dawn attack not far from the morgue in Federal B Area.

Mohammad Imran, the 28-year-old driver of the ambulance taking them to the morgue, was among those killed. The other two were Abdul Basit Baloch, 32, and Shoaib Baloch, 26.

Zuleikha — the 58-year-old woman who lost her three sons on Sunday and Wednesday — and 30-year-old Mustafa were admitted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.

According to police, the attack was carried out by about six men who fled in a car and motorbikes they had parked nearby. DSP Rehmatullah of Gulbarg police station told Dawn that about two dozen spent bullet casings had been found from the crime scene.

How it all began

The grisly episode began last Sunday when Islam Baloch was shot dead in Mochko area. According to police, the victim was an Iranian Baloch and had recently moved to the area from Kalakot in Lyari.

His brothers Saeed Baloch and Mujeeb Baloch registered a case against unknown assailants at the Saeedabad police station.

On Wednesday, Saeed and Mujeeb themselves were gunned down in Gulshan-i-Mazdoor, Baldia Town.

According to sources, Islam Baloch had recently contracted a court marriage, which may be the reason for the killings.

However, there are unconfirmed reports that he had links with some Lyari gangsters.

The bodies of the three brothers were kept in the Edhi morgue and Zuleikha had tried to collect them on Thursday as well.

But the bodies were not handed over to her because she didn’t have the required police papers.

A senior official of the Edhi Foundation told Dawn the woman didn’t speak Urdu and the morgue people failed to make her understand that they needed some police documents before giving her the bodies.

SHO of Saeedabad police station Tariq Islam said that Zuleikha and her family were not cooperating with the police. “The language is also a major problem because they understand neither Urdu nor Persian,” he said.

SSP of Central District Asim Qaimkhani said that Zuleikha couldn’t be questioned because she had been injured seriously in the attack. A sister of the slain brothers, Rukhsana, was too grief-stricken to be questioned.  Police officials said the family hailed from Iran.

Basit and Shoaib, who were gunned down on Friday morning, were friends of the three brothers. Basit lived in Kalakot, Lyari, and used to run a restaurant in Lea Market area. Shoaib was a travel agent.

Other killings

In separate targeted attacks in the city, nine people, including two policemen and an activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were killed.