KARACHI - Five people including cops and clerics were shot dead in Karachi on Saturday.
A prayer leader and Moazan were shot dead and three others wounded outside a mosque situated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
The incident took place outside Masjid-e-Abrar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The victim prayer leader was identified as Maulana Ehtisham and Moazan as Qari Hafeez while the injured were identified as Asim, Ashiq and Maulana Haroon. The assailants riding a motorbike managed to escape and the victims were shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors termed Maulana Haroon’s condition critical.
SHO Aurangzeb Khattak said the victim and the injured were sitting at a donation table outside the mosque after Maghrib prayers when four armed men riding two motorcycles came close to them and opened indiscriminate fire. They later managed to escape from the scene. Police officials claimed to have recovered empty shells of 9mm pistols. Police termed the incident sectarian.
In another incident, unidentified armed men attacked a police complaint camp at Liaquatabad in the wee hours of Saturday. ASI Muhammad Ali of the Police Qaumi Razakar died on the spot while a lady police constable Kiran, 28, was critically wounded. The body and the injured were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Kiran also succumbed to injuries.
Kiran was posted to Liaquatabad woman police station for the last three years. She was the mother of two children and was the resident of Liaquatabad No 5.
DSP Wajahat Hussain said the culprits used 0.22 pistol which normally do not use in the cases of target killings. Empty shells have been recovered and sent to the forensic laboratory. Their funerals were offered at DIG West Office. Later, Kiran was laid to rest at FC area graveyard and Ali was buried at Muhammad Shah graveyard.
Police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons and initiated investigation. DSP Hussain said the motive and the group behind the incident had yet to be ascertained.
On the other side, a worker of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat was shot dead in Hadi Market. The victim was identified as Muhammad Haider, 45. ASWJ spokesman claimed the affiliation of the victim with the party and demanded arrest of the culprits. Police officials said the victim was busy doing Iftari at his Pan Shop when armed motorcyclists shot him dead. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsy. SHO Ejaz Lodhi said the victim’s nine-year-old son, Hamza, was also at the shop but he remained safe in the incident.