KARACHI, Feb 13: Four people were shot dead in different localities of the city on Wednesday, police said.

They said that a trader was shot dead and another wounded in an armed attack inside the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, better known as New Sabzi Mandi, off the Superhighway.

Two men riding a motorcycle entered the market, opened fire on two vegetable traders, Tai Jan and Abdul Hameed, and escaped.

The wounded were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Tai Jan, 38, was declared dead, while the second victim was admitted for treatment.

Sohrab Goth DSP Qamar Ahmed said that the deceased originally hailed from Swat and it appeared that he was targeted due to some personal enmity.

Following the incident, traders came outside the market and blocked traffic on the main Superhighway in protest against the killing. However, after negotiations with the police they dispersed peacefully.

The president of the fruit and vegetable market, Haji Shahjahan, alleged that a Rangers van was parked at the market, but despite hearing gunshots the Rangers did not intervene.

Trader killed in ‘sectarian’ attack The owner of a wholesale commodity shop was shot dead in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Wednesday evening.

Police said that assailants entered the shop in Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block-17 near the City Bakery, fired at its owner Anwar Abbas and fled. The victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he died. He suffered two bullet wounds in the head and chest, the police said.

The police suspected that the killing might have driven by a sectarian motive.

Tension gripped the locality following the killing.

Two found shot dead in old city area The body of a young man was found in the old city area on Wednesday.

Police said that unknown men threw out the body from a moving rickshaw in the Bihar Colony within the remit of the Chakiwara police station and fled.

The body was taken to the Civil Hospital where the victim was identified as Mohammad Noman, 28. He had been shot in the head.

The police said that the victim used to hang out with some Lyari gangsters and he might have killed on suspicion of being a police informer.

Meanwhile, the body of another man, identified as Muhammad Anwar, 24, was found in a garbage dump near a park in the Kharadar area.

The police shifted the body to Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

The victim sustained multiple bullet wounds. He was a resident of Kharadar.

Woman killed The body of a young woman, bearing severe torture marks, was found in her house in Qasba Colony within the remit of the Pirabad police station on Wednesday.

Police said that she was identified as Salma, 25, wife of Abdul Ghaffar.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination to know the cause of her death.

The police said that they were looking for her husband who was missing.