KARACHI, Sept 18: A constable was shot dead on Tuesday when he tried to arrest a suspected suicide bomber on Hoshang Road.

The Artillery Maidan police said Mohammed Tariq was checking small vehicles on a random basis near Bungalow D-16 when at around 2.30pm he stopped a rickshaw.

They said the rickshaw passenger opened fire on the constable, killing him on the spot, and forced the driver at gunpoint not to stop the three-wheeler. The police said a passing CID police party chased the rickshaw but the gunman abandoned it and ran away.

A senior police officer of Saddar Town, Shahnawaz Khan, told Dawn that the constable was conducting a routine check when the occupant of the rickshaw shot him.

He said the CID police also seized a complete set of switch and batteries, used in detonators.

DIG South Javed Ali Shah Bukhari told Dawn that the CID police were investigating the case.

The CID police said the rickshaw driver was in protective custody. They said efforts were being made to prepare sketches of the suspect, who appeared to be on a terror mission.

The body of the constable was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where sources said the victim had received a bullet in the neck from a very close range as it pierced his left shoulder.

The police said the body of the constable, hailing from Narowal, was sent to his hometown.