Religious scholar injured in gun attack in Karachi

CCTV footage shows two attackers on a motorcycle accosting Khan's vehicle

KARACHI:

Two unidentified armed men, on a motorcycle, fired a gunshot at a cleric's car on Manghopir Road in MPR Colony, leaving 40-year-old Mufti Saleemullah Khan injured at 9.09am on Wednesday.

At the time of the incident, Khan's wife and another woman were with him in the car - a white Corolla bearing the registration number BPK310 - both of whom remained unhurt.

According to West SSP Suhai Aziz Khan, a resident of Nazimabad, was on his way to the madrassa where he worked in MPR Colony when two men, on a motorcycle, accosted his car and fired at him. The fired bullet grazed the cleric's arm and hit his abdomen.

An eyewitness, the guard of a factory nearby, told The Express Tribune that he rushed to the vehicle as soon as it came to a halt after the attack, smashed the car's windows and took out the wounded cleric. A driver and two others from the madrassa were also quick to reach the spot.

The driver took the cleric to a private hospital in North Nazimabad.

Meanwhile, the attackers fled. The preliminary investigation indicates that the firing was an attempted target killing or Khan was shot over personal enmity as the attackers fired just once at the vehicle. Besides, it is suspected that the attackers conducted reconnaissance of Khan.

According to police, the attackers kept their faces hidden, with one having donned a helmet and the other wearing a cap and a face mask.

The police were not able to find any spent bullet shells at the crime scene till the filing of this report on Wednesday evening.

Besides, the Counter Terrorism Department has also launched a probe into the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2021.