Targeted killings?: ST activist among nine shot dead

A CID officer travelling in a police van was also shot and wounded by armed men.

KARACHI:

At least nine people, including a Sunni Tehreek activist, were killed on Saturday and a CID officer as well as a security guard were injured in an attack at Patel Para.

Three people were killed and half a dozen others, including two police officers, were injured during a clash between two groups in Sohrab Goth. The authorities said that the clash took place over a monetary dispute before iftar. As the police got there, the men opened fire at them and injured SHO Sultan Mehsun and SI Ahsan. Yaqoob, 40, was shot dead in Bakhtawar Goth, said the Gulishtan-e-Jauhar police.

A 25-year-old man, identified as Shoaib, was shot dead and his friend Ishaq, 26, was injured in Godhra Camp, said the New Karachi police. They were sitting outside Shoaib’s house when two men on a motorcycle drove up to them and opened fire. The police said that both victims were Sunni Tehreek activists. Shoaib is the second activist from the group to be killed within a week in New Karachi.
The incident sparked tension in Godhra Camp and commercial activities were disrupted. In an unrelated incident, a 28-year-old man, identified as Saleem, was shot dead in Sector 36-B, in the limits of the Landhi police.

In a separate incident, a 35-year-old man, Mohammad Zafar, was killed inside his relative’s house in Sherpao Colony, in the jurisdiction of the Quaidabad police. The police said that the victim hailed from Mianwali and had come to Karachi to visit his relatives. The body of a woman was found in a drain in Daud Goth, in the jurisdiction of the Saeedabad police. She had died at least five days before the body was discovered, said the police.

A policeman, Shafqat Gondal, who was shot and wounded on July 18, succumbed to his injuries at Civil Hospital. Gondal lived in Garden and had been posted at the Pak Colony police station for the last four years. He and his companion, Sohail, who played an active role in the Karachi operation in 1990s, were attacked by at least four armed men shortly after they left the Pak Colony police station for some work. Sohail died on the spot while Gondal was critically injured. Both the victims were on intelligence duty.

In an unrelated incident, three men were injured in a clash in Shahrah-e-Noor Jehan, said SHO Raja Tariq.

CID officer attacked

An officer of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and a security guard were injured when at least four armed men intercepted and shot at the police mobile that they were travelling in. DSP Israr Awan, accompanied by a security guard, Israr Pathan, was on the way to the CID office from his home when the attack took place. DSP Awan sustained two bullet wounds while four bullets hit the guard, who was driving the vehicle.

The injured men were taken to Aga Khan Hospital, where doctors said that the condition of guard was critical.

DSP Awan was last injured when terrorists attacked the CID Complex two years ago with a vehicle filled with explosives.

He was also seriously injured in a similar attack that took place in Patel Para in 2003. The outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was found to be involved in that attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2012.