KARACHI, Sept 1: In what appeared to be the trend of the ongoing targeted killings of law-enforcers, a police constable was shot dead in Qasba Colony on Saturday, officials said.

They said armed riders targeted 27-year-old Shafiq-ur-Rahman in Qasba Colony’s Block E when he was sitting with a friend near his home in the second half of the day.

Fifty-four policemen have been killed in the past eight months, according to police data.

“The victim was sitting with a friend in a rickshaw parked in the street,” said an official at the Pirabad police station.

“Two men on a motorbike wearing masks pulled up close to the rickshaw. One of them got off the motorbike, walked up to the rickshaw and fired multiple shots at the constable before running away with his aide.”

The police constable died on the spot and the body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities.

Doctors at the health facility said that the victim sustained three bullet wounds to the head, face and chest.

The victim was enrolled for commando training at the Benazir Bhutto Anti-Terrorism Training Centre, Razzaqabad, and had come home on his weekly day off.

“Investigations are at an early phase but we have reason to believe that he was targeted either for his ethnic background or for professional association,” said the official.

“The victim was unmarried and had been serving the police for the past five years. The police have also found multiple spent bullet casings of a 9mm pistol from the scene of crime.”

Man shot dead

A man was shot dead in Machhar Colony on Saturday, police said.

They said that 35-year-old Hashim Ghafoor was killed near Sher-i-Bangal Chowk.

“The victim was a resident of the same area,” said an official at the Docks police station. “The victim had some monetary dispute. He was hit by two bullets in the chest.”

He said that the body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi and later handed over to the family after the completion of medico-legal formalities.

An FIR would be lodged after the burial, he added.

CAA employee shot dead in Malir

An employee of the Civil Aviation Authority was shot dead minutes after he left his home in Malir for his workplace.

Police said that 36-year-old Malik Jalil Ahmed was hit by two bullets in the upper torso in Khosa Goth near Malir Halt when he was on his way to work.

“The victim was employed with the CAA and used to walk to the airport from home early in the morning,” said an official at the Airport police station.

“Witnesses said they saw two men fire at the victim early in the morning. The victim was married, father of two, and originally hailed from Bahawalpur.”

A case (FIR 165/2012) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unknown assailants on a complaint of the victim’s elder brother.

The police suspected personal enmity as a likely motive for the killing.