KARACHI, July 25: While a semblance of normality returned to most parts of the city on Monday, a couple of localities in district east remained tense with the targeted killing of a Pakistan People’s Party worker, an arson attack and intense firing, police said.

The officials said Drigh Colony, Cantt Bazaar and parts of Shah Faisal Colony reverberated with a crackle of gunfire after an ambulance of Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation — a charity service of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement — was set on fire in the area.

The people and their motive behind the arson attack remained unknown but the incident sparked intense firing, the police said.

“KKF officials claimed that armed men intercepted their ambulance near Cantt Bazaar, dragged them out of the vehicle and put it on fire,” said an official at the Sharea Faisal police station.

“Before the fire tenders reached the site, the fire had destroyed the ambulance. Its frame was later removed from that area.”

The firing forced traders to pull down shutters in Drigh Colony, Cantt Bazaar, Natha Khan Goth and Shah Faisal Colony No 4 and transport almost disappeared in the affected areas.

The police remained unable to move into the streets where the firing was intense.

Earlier, an activist of the Sindh People’s Youth Organisation was gunned down at his medical store in Korangi.

The area police said armed riders pulled up outside Amna Medical Store in Bhitai Colony and targeted its 34-year-old owner, Liaqauat Shahnawaz.

“The victim sustained three bullets and died on the spot,” said an official at the Ibrahim Hyderi police station.

“The attackers used 30-bore pistol to execute their job.”

The victim was an area resident and father of two.

A PPP spokesman condemned Shahnawaz’s killing and said the victim was a senior party activist, who was targeted onlybecause of his political association. “Currently he was associated with the SPYO, the youth wing of the PPP, as president ofPS-124. A number of our workers have been targeted in the ongoing wave of violence due to their proactive role in theirrespective areas for restoration of peace and brotherhood,” he added.

In the Juma Goth area of Malir, an unidentified man was found shot dead, the area police said.

They added that the bullet-riddled body was found from the bushes. “The victim looks between 45 and 50 years old,” said anofficial at the Juma Goth police station.

Juma Goth is one of the several rural towns on the outskirts of Malir, which remained tense amid heavy gunfire on Sunday.