Search operations to be conducted in Karachi

Search operations are being launched in sensitive areas of the city with the CID, SIU and AVCC assisting.

KARACHI:

Conflicting reports have emerged saying search operations are to be conducted in Lyari, PIB colony, Dalmia and Aziz Bhatti areas.

However, the newly appointed Information minister for Sindh, Sharmila Farooqi, says no specific area has been notified for the search operations.

Search operations are reportedly being launched in sensitive areas of the city with the Crime Investigation Department (CID), the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) to assist the operations.

The death toll from the violence in the city has risen to 33.

Earlier, reports emerged that a curfew may be imposed in certain areas of Karachi following the current wave of violence in the city, according to Express 24/7 correspondent Shaheryar Mirza.

All universities remained closed on Wednesday due to the ongoing violence. President Asif Ali Zardari has met Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza to discuss the unending violence in Karachi.

Earlier, President Zardari had asked the Sindh government to present a report on the violence.

Updated from print edition (below)

Karachi continues to bleed as 25 more killed

The death toll in Karachi rose for the fourth consecutive day as 25 more people were killed amid calls for deployment of the army in the city on Tuesday.

The fatality toll in the political and ethnic target killings reached 72 during the last four days, as death continued to stalk the city.

Despite a ban on pillion riding, six armed motorcyclists entered the Shershah scrap (Kabari) market and opened indiscriminate fire. At least 12 people were killed and 14 were injured in the firing, police and hospital officials said.

The attackers escaped from the scene within ten minutes of the operation, police officials said, quoting eyewitnesses. The bodies and injured were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) and Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK).

Rescue officials said that 12 bodies were shifted to different hospitals. Ten were shifted to CHK and two to ASH. Those killed were identified as Zubair 28, Umair 30, Nasir 25, Tariq 25, Saeed 24, Kashif, 30, Amjad, 32, Ghulam Rasool, 28, Junaid, 20 and one remained unidentified. The two shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital were identified as Asif, 35, and Anees, 50.

Civil Hospital medico-legal officer (MLO) Dr Qarar Abbasi said that eight people were brought in dead while two died during treatment. Abbasi Shaheed Hospital MLO Dr Saleem Siddiqui said two bodies and two injured were brought to the hospital, adding that the victims sustained bullets from Kalashnikovs.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Liaquatabad Khwaja Naveed said gang war elements could be involved in the attack. “They are always threatened by Lyari gangsters and we suspect their involvement in the crime,” Naveed said.

He said most of the sensitive areas in Lyari had been cordoned off and an operation would soon be launched against the criminals in the area. “You will soon see some action,” he told The Express Tribune.

After the incident, around eight more people were gunned down while five bodies were found. Three bullet-riddled bodies, allegedly all Baloch, according to the police and hospital officials, were found near Radio Pakistan in Preedy police precincts.

Abdul Khaliq and Jamal were shot dead in an attack at a teashop in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Mohammad Akram was shot dead in Sharae Noor Jahan. A seller of dates near the Inquiry Office in Nazimabad police limits was also killed, whereas two unidentified persons were  killed in Pak Colony and on Abul Hassan Isphani Road. A passenger coach driver was killed in Moosa Colony within the limits of the Gulberg police station.

A bullet-riddled body was recovered from Haryana Colony, Orangi Town in the limits of Mominabad police station. The victim was identified as 40-year-old Abdul Hameed Sarbazi, son of Shambay Baloch Sarbazi. Police officials said that the deceased was the area ward in-charge of the People’s Peace Committee (PAC). He had been kidnapped on Monday night.

Similarly, a bullet-riddled body of an MQM-H activist was found near Landhi School within the jurisdiction of the Landhi police station. The body bore torture marks.

The victim was identified as 29-year-old Ubaidullah, son of Azizullah. He was a resident of Landhi No 1 sector 37-D. He had also been kidnapped on Monday night.

SHO Mohammad Khan confirmed the victim was an activist of MQM-H. “His brother had also been killed six years ago in the same manner,” he added.

Another Baloch man was gunned down at the Abbasi Cloth Market Ranchore Lines within the Nabi Bux police station limits. The victim, 35-year-old Nawaz Zikri Baloch, son of Ali Ahmed Zikri Baloch, was a resident of Mawach Goth. He was ambushed by two unidentified men when he was passing by the cloth market on his bike.

Meanwhile, Rangers officials claimed to have arrested 86 persons in different parts of the city and recovered weapons from their possession.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2010.