Target killings: Prayer leader and scout shot dead

Police termed the murder of the prayer leader as a sectarian killing.

KARACHI:

The prayer leader of the Lal Masjid in Gulbahar, Maulana Abdus Samad Soomro was gunned down in a new wave of target killings on Tuesday evening.

Earlier in the day a scout leader identified as Nayyar Abbas was also shot dead in Orangi Town no. 10, said the Mominabad police.

Maulana Soomro was shot dead in Gulbahar when Abbas’s funeral prayers were being offered at the Imambargah Khairul Amal in Ancholi. Abbas was the scout leader of Hussainia Sajjadia Imambargah in North Nazimabad and used to live in Kausar Niazi Colony. His brother was killed two months ago in a similar manner. The prayer leader was shot at six times while the scout leader was shot once on the head. Both men died immediately and their bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

DSP Rustam Khattak said that the prayer leader was killed soon after he got out of his car outside the Lal Masjid. He claimed that it was a sectarian killing. Reports said that he was also a leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned outfit, but the police could not confirm it. He was also associated with the Tehreek Ghalba-e-Islam. He leaves behind six children and was from Shikarpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2011.