KARACHI, May 31: Two persons died and several others were injured when unknown armed men opened fire at a crowd of blood donors waiting for their turn outside the Husaini Blood Bank near Numaish intersection on Monday night.
The donors had rushed at the blood bank following the bomb blast in the nearby Imambargah Ali Raza on M. A. Jinnah Road earlier in the evening. None of the deceased could be identified till late in the night. One of them was stated to be 22 year old and the other about 55 years.
Edhi sources claimed that the crowd was fire upon by members of law-enforcement agencies. Witnesses said that the Rangers had first been attacked by unknown people. They claimed that the Rangers returned the fire killing the two persons.
An official of the Husaini Blood Bank told Dawn that one of the victims had died on the spot after receiving a bullet wound in his head. Soon after the blast, violence erupted in many localities of the city with enraged mobs resorting to attack private and public properties, including vehicles and bank branches causing heavy damage to most of them.
Enraged youths trapped a police mobile, which had tried to reach a troubled spot on M. A. Jinnah Road, in front of the Imambargah Ali Raza. Later, they set the mobile van on fire. A Rangers' mobile which had taken position near the PSO pump on the road was also set ablaze.
Sensing the dangerous situation, police and Rangers moved out of the area and stayed away from the violence-hit localities. Witnesses said that as the angry youths set the petrol pump on fire, the Rangers personal had fled from the spot leaving behind their vehicle.
The Shell petrol pump near the Mazar-i-Quaid was again attacked and damaged by protesters. The pump had already been ransacked and set afire during violence on Sunday. Yet another petrol pump, located in Soldier Bazaar, came under attack and set ablaze by the enraged youths.
Groups of protesters, mainly youths, lit bonfire on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road and Ancholi society (Federal B Area). They emerged on the main Shahrah-i-Pakistan from the side of Ancholi (block-20) and attacked several moving vehicles with stones. Later, they set fire to a truck and a Suzuki van.
At some places, miscreants opened fire at the police. Police returned the fire and resorted to heavy teargas shelling. People in the localities around Nipa Chowrangi took to the streets and blocked University Road by setting old tyres on fire.
A resident of the Paradise Homes told Dawn that police resorted to shelling which was so intense that the gas had filled the apartments causing breathing problems to the inmates. "We had to come out of our homes to escape teargas effects," the other residents said.
Miscreants in a locality near Abbas Town set a wine shop on fire. Police fired teargas shells to disperse them. Reports of sporadic shooting were coming from different parts of the city till late Monday night.
As the news of the blast reached Malir, enraged protesters took to the National Highway and blocked its Malir-15 section. They also blocked the main Sharea Faisal by erecting barricades, making bonfire and staging a sit-in. The protesters also blocked rail tracks suspending the rail traffic for considerable time. Schedule of five down and four up trains was disrupted due to the blockade.
Funeral prayers
KARACHI, May 31: The Jafria Alliance announced that funeral prayers of those killed in the blast will be held at M.A. Jinnah Road in front of Imrambargah Ali Raza after Zuhar prayers on Tuesday.