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Published 07 Dec, 2010 01:01am

MQM-H, PPP men gunned down

KARACHI, Dec 6: Two political activists were gunned down in as many incidents in the city on Monday, police said.

The incidents of politically motivated targeted killings continue unabated in the metropolis, as 15 activist have so far been killed since last month.

In the first incident, assailants targeted an activist of the Aamir Khan-led faction of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, better known as MQM-Haqiqi, in Korangi.

The police said that 45-year-old Mahmood Hasan was riding his motorbike when armed men targeted him near Indus Mor in Korangi.

“A few eyewitnesses told the police that they saw two men who were wearing helmets on a motorbike intercept the victim as he slowed down over a speed-breaker. One of the attackers got off the motorbike and fired multiple shots at him,” said the SHO of the Zaman Town police station.

The victim sustained three bullet wounds and died on the spot, he said, adding that the attackers escaped. The police found some six casings of spent bullets fired from a 9mm pistol at the crime-scene.

Though the police remained clueless about the motive and the people behind the murder, a spokesman for the MQM-H said that Mr Hasan was targeted only for his political association.

“We have lost some four workers since November in targeted attacks,” said Feroze Haider of the MQM-H. “Mr Hasan was associated with the party's Korangi sector and these days he was looking after the legal matters of the party workers facing different charges.”

Father of four, Mr Hasan was originally the resident of Korangi 33-B area. However, the spokesman said that since 2002 he had changed his residence to somewhere else in the same town due to death threats.

In the second incident of the day, a member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party was shot dead in North Karachi's Sector 7-C.

The area police said that Haji Muhammad Hanif, 45, was hit by seven bullets fired by one of the two bikers who spotted him near Anda Mor.

“Two men on a motorbike attacked him when he was walking through the Anda Mor intersection within the remit of the Sir Syed Town police station,” said DSP Altaf Hussain, the area's supervisory police officer. “Both the riders were wearing helmets and escaped the scene in a flash after executing the job.”

The police said that the victim was a resident of the same area and associated with the PS-101 of the PPP's organisational structure. He was also a member of the area Zakat Committee.

“He was father of five and associated with property business for the last few years. It's too early to arrive at any conclusion as we are not sure that whether it was a politically motivated murder or an outcome of some personal feud,” the area DSP said.

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