KARACHI, Nov 29: Two students of Karachi University were shot dead in suspected targeted attack near the varsity gate in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday evening, police and hospital officials said.

They said that when Shadab Hussain, 27, and his friend, Hamza Naushad, 27, came out from the varsity’s gate near the Maskan traffic intersection on a motorcycle, two gunmen also riding a motorbike opened fire on them and fled. The victims were taken to a nearby private hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

“The victims were students of the KU and it appears that the attackers were also students,” said Mobina Town SHO Jamal Mohammed Leghari.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the police officer said that the killers also carried student bags, giving rise to the suspicion that the double murder was committed by students.

“The double murder of the students appears to be related to targeted killings,” said SSP of East Syed Pir Mohammed Shah.

However, he said that the police investigators were focusing on two aspects of the incident — politics in the university and the killings on sectarian grounds.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Majlis-e-Wahadatul Muslimeen said that Shadab was a grandson of the prayer leader of Khairul Amal Imambargah in Ancholi, Maulana Ghulam Ali Waziri.

The MWM official suspected that they were killed on account of sectarian grounds. However, the spokesperson clarified that Hamza was a Sunni and friend of Shadab.