KARACHI, Jan 8: A young man taking his children to school on Tuesday morning was shot dead on Britto Road apparently in a ‘sectarian attack’, police said. They added that the children remained safe as the attackers targeted only their father, Imran Abbas, 45, near Fatmiya School within the remit of the Soldier Bazaar police station.

The incident came as a grim reminder of similar shootings mostly on sectarian grounds when people taking their children to school were targeted in the city.

Resident of Jafria Colony in the Gulbahar area, Imran was taking his son and daughter to their school on a motorbike when two armed men riding a motorcycle intercepted them on Britto Road, the police said.

One of the armed men fired multiple shots at Imran and fled along with his accomplice, the police added. While the children remained unhurt, they were in a state of shock after witnessing the targeted attack on their father, the police said.

The victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the officials said, adding that the victim had sustained gunshot wounds in the head.

“The killing seems to have a sectarian motive,” said Jamshad Town SP Usman Bajwa.

After medico-legal formalities, the body of Imran Abbas was taken to the Rizvia Imambargah where funeral prayers for him were offered after Zohrain prayers.

The victim was later laid to rest at Hyderi Bargah, Mewashah graveyard.

Earlier, Maulana Asghar Ilyas and his daughter, Zainab, were killed and his elder daughter, Dua, was wounded in a gun attack on their car at the Tahir Villa intersection near Ayesha Manzil in the early hours of Monday. A spokesman for Ahle Sunaat Wal Jamaat had condemned the killings.

The trend came to the limelight when a 12-year-old girl, Mehzar Zehra, and her father, Nazar Abbas, sustained gunshot wounds in a sectarian attack on their car near her school on Shaheed-i-Millat Road on Nov 30 last year. Both father and daughter sustained multiple bullet wounds and were rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where Nazar was pronounced dead on arrival. The girl was later shifted to a private hospital.Man, nephew killed

A man and his nephew were killed in Orangi Town, police said.

The officials added that the armed men entered a house in Baloch Goth and opened fire on 45-year-old Mohammad Ayub and his nephew Mohammad Riaz, 25, before fleeing.

The police later shifted the bodies to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Body found

The body of a teenage girl was found near the power house, Madina Colony, opposite New Sabzi Mandi, off the Superhighway on Tuesday, police said.

They added that the body wrapped in a blanket did not have any torture marks. The police shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination, the officials said.