Mass murder: Five people shot dead in a house in Orangi

Police officials suspect that the incident may be an honour killing.


Our Correspondent May 05, 2013
We have obtained empty shells and fingerprints to trace the suspects. It will be easy if they have a previous criminal record, a forensic expert. GRAPHIC: MANAHYL KHAN

KARACHI:


Five people, including three women and a girl, were shot dead in a house in Mominabad, Orangi town on Saturday afternoon. Police suspect that two men were behind the murders.


The owner of the house, taxi driver Ameen Afridi, was at work when the incident occurred. His wife, 42-year-old Nasreen, was among the victims, along with 25-year-old Shahzia Zahid, her nine-year-old daughter Zubaida, 28-year-old Zeenat, and 28-year-old Zubair Safdar. Shahzia was a resident of Mominabad and Safdar was from Patel Para, Jamshed town. Zeenat’s area of residence has yet to be determined.

Witnesses claimed that Nasreen had been living in the house for the past 10 years and was at home when the incident occurred. “The two men waited for the other four victims to enter the house,” said one eyewitness, K*. “The firing began as soon as they entered.” He added that the men, who were also seen leaving the house, escaped before the police arrived. Police officials said that Nasreen’s body was found in front of the main door of the house, Shahzia and Safdar’s bodies from one of the rooms and Zubaida and Zeenat’s from another room.

Forensic experts were also called in to inspect the crime scene. The initial forensic report says that a 9mm pistol might have been used to kill all five victims. “Three bullets had been fired at Safdar while the rest of the victims were shot dead with one bullet to the head,” said one forensic expert. “We have obtained empty shells and fingerprints from the crime scene,” he added. “It will be easy to trace the suspects if they have a previous criminal record.”

The bodies were taken to the Karachi Civil Hospital. Zeenat, Zubaida and Shahzia’s bodies were later transferred to the Edhi morgue. Officials from the medico-legal section said that all of the victims had been shot at a point-blank range and their samples have been sent to the laboratory for examination.

Police officials said that the actual motive behind the incident has yet to be determined but initial investigation suggest that it could have been a case of honour killing. “The culprits had intended to kill one of the two victims, Shahzia or Zeenat, but they murdered the other three as,” said SHO Aurangzaib Khattak. He added that one of the victims, Nasreen, was reportedly running a brothel. “The two women were her employees and the man, Safdar, was one of her customers.” He pointed out that the family members of one of the two victims might have arrived at the scene and shot them. The officer added that police were trying to trace the families of the women. “We are also trying to make sketches of the culprits with the assistance of the witnesses.” No case has been registered as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2013.

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