Aerial firing claims two lives, injures many

KARACHI:

The city reverberated with the crackle of gunfire as people unleashed barrage of aerial firing at the stroke of midnight to mark the Independence Day.

Though people took the liberty to check the dependence of their weapons on Independence Day, two people were killed and nearly 80 sustained injuries by stray bullets.

A woman, Bisma, was riding pillion on bike with her brother when a bullet coming from the sky pierced her skull and exited from the neck in a tragic incident near Peoples Chowrangi, behind Mazar-e-Quaid within the limit of Jamshed Quarters police station.

The brother of the deceased, Sajjad, told The Express Tribune outside the mortuary of the Jinnah Hospital that Bisma was riding with him.

She had Sajjad's child in her lap.

They all had gone to a nearby park.

On the way back when they came near Peoples Chowrangi, she suddenly fell down, with the child in her hands.

Sajjad said he was shocked to see Bisma bleeding from the head.

"At first I did not know what had happened.

Later, doctors at JPMC said that she was hit by a bullet in the head which exited from the neck," he said.

The second brother of the victim said that there is no rule of law in the city.

The police fail in their duties.

Separately, 30-year-old Abdul Wahab s/o Abdul Ghaffar received bullet injuries in Lyari and passed away during treatment at the Civil Hospital.

Police said Wahab was standing near his house in Shah Baig Lane when a bullet from unknown direction hit him.

According to the Civil Hospital sources, 19 people were brought in between 12am and 1am with two in serious condition.

Police officials informed that as per reports, a man was injured in Bilal Colony, two in Liaquatabad, two in Landhi and Korangi, one in Mehmoodabad.

They said that at least 24 people were injured in the early hours of Monday.

The aerial firing lasted for few minutes only.

The firing incidents reported in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Sohrab Goth, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Pahelwan Goth, Shah Lateef Town, Shah Faisal Colony, North Karachi, Clifton, Defence and other areas of the city, police said.