Ice cream parlour owners shot dead in ‘revenge attack’

Gunmen on three motorcycles ambushed a crossover SUV carrying five brothers in the Guru Mandir area of the metropolitan city on Thursday, killing two, injuring two others, while the fifth one miraculously escaped unhurt.

The five siblings, owners of Blaoch Ice Cream, Saddar, were en route to a court inside the Central Jail Karachi for a scheduled appearance in a case regarding their al-leged involvement in the December 2023 murder of Muhammad Ejaz Mian, a relative who also ran a shop named Baloch Ice Cream in Saddar.

The broad daylight ambush was caught on CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity and the footage immediately went viral on social media. The footage shows six assailants on three motorcycles discharging their handguns on both sides of the driver and passenger sides of the car and as it slows down they come in front and fire more gunshots in the windshield.

The footage shows the assailants, after making sure they have got their targets, ride away as the crossover SUV comes to a halt on the roadside. Identified as Shahid and Umair, the deceased brothers were among those accused of Ejaz's murder.

The injured, named Shahid and Wajid, were rushed to hospital, while their fifth brother, Muhammad Shan, escaped the deadly ambush unscathed.

According to SP Jamshed Division Aleena Rajpar, the crime scene revealed evidence of a calculated assault, with 17 9mm pistol shells recovered for forensic analysis. The assailants, believed to be aged over 40, were dressed in shalwar-kameez. The brazen ambush has sent shockwaves throughout the area.