KARACHI, April 18: Nearly half a dozen people, including a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were killed in separate incidents of firing in the city on Thursday, police and party sources said.

The MQM worker was shot dead in Mehmoodabad, the area police said.

They added that armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on Mohammad Faisal Khan at his stationery shop in Mehmoodabad No 2 and sped away.

The victim was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where he was admitted in a critical condition, the police said.

“The patient had been brought with a gunshot wound in the head. His condition was very critical and he was put on a ventilator, but he died in the evening,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, official in charge of accidents and emergency ward of the JPMC.Following the incident, tension gripped the locality leading to immediate closure of shops and markets.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, meanwhile, condemned the killing of Mohammad Faisal, Mehmoodabad Sector UC-5 joint sector in charge of the party’s organizational structure. The MQM coordination committee announced a day of mourning over the incident.

‘Sectarian’ attack

A man was shot dead in what police suspected to be a sectarian attack in Malir late Thursday night.

The police said armed men riding a motorbike fired at Syed Hasnain Mehdi at a roadside tea stall in Urdu Nagar, Malir.

The victim died on the spot, the police said, adding that the body was shifted to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities.

“A patient was brought with a gunshot wound in the head,” said a senior doctor at the JPMC.

Three found shot dead in Kharadar

The bodies of three young men stuffed in gunny bags were found in the old city area of Kharadar on Thursday morning, police said.

They added that all the three victims were employees at a fisheries unit and had gone missing on April 16 on their way back home from work.

The families had lodged a missing report about the youngsters at the Docks police station, the police said.

The bodies of two victims stuffed in a gunny bag were spotted in a street near Sarafa Bazaar, said the officials. They added that the victims were later identified as 25-year-old Mustafa aka Bengali and 18-year-old Shahbaz.

The police said that just two streets from the crime scene, another body stuffed in a gunny bag was found.

The bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi where the third victim was later identified as Yasin, a resident of Juna Market, Nishtar Road, said the police.

They said that Yasin and Mustafa were cousins.

The police investigators were not sure about the motive for the murders.