KARACHI, June 21: A violent protest broke out in the Godhra Camp area of New Karachi on Tuesday after the killing of a young man of the locality, police and witnesses said.

They said charged youths with women and children of the area took to the streets an hour after 34-year-old Abdul Qadir of the area was gunned down early in the morning while he was driving to work.

“The victim left his home in Sector 11-G of the New Karachi Town, commonly known as Godhra Camp, in the morning in his car (AA-542),” said Sub-Inspector Muhammad Shabbir, additional SHO of the Taimuria police station.

“As he reached near Shafiq Mor, four men on two motorbikes intercepted his car. Two of the riders gotoff the two-wheelers and fired at him from both sides. He sustained five bullet wounds and died on the spot.”

Two passersby –– identified as Muhammad Saleem and Abdul Waheed –– were also hit in the firing and were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they were declared out of danger, he said.

He said the police found casings of spent bullets of .30-bore pistols at the scene.

The victim was employed with a private company in Clifton and his family had been settled in the area for the last several decades, he said.

However, he ruled out any mugging attempt behind the killing.

“It was a premeditated murder and the attackers had only come to kill him. They fled without taking any valuables from the victim,” said the additional SHO of the Taimuria police station.

The police later registered a case (FIR 358/2011) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified suspects.

In the residential area of the victim –– Sector 11-G New Karachi –– the charged residents took to the streets against the young man’s killing.

They burnt tyres while gunshots were also heard that forced the traders to pull down shutters.

“A 50-year-old year man named Abdul Sattar sustained a bullet wound in the firing during the protest. There has been no other major incident and the police took over the situation through mediation of the area and community elders,” said an official at the North Karachi Industrial Area police station.