Death toll rises: Violence escalates in city

Five bodies also found, police believe four are militants of a banned outfit.

KARACHI:

Nine people, including five in Lyari, were killed while five bodies were found in the city on Wednesday.

Violence in Lyari escalated in the evening with the sound of gunshots and explosions of rockets, grenade and awans creating panic among residents. A woman, her son and a relative were among the five people killed while several others were wounded as groups of Baba Ladla and Uzair Baloch, armed with heavy weapons, started attacking each other in parts of Lyari.



The death of five residents was confirmed by Lyari SP Shahnawaz Khan. A woman, 35-year-old Raquiya, wife of Mukhtar, her son, 12-year-old Madad Ali, and her relative, two-year-old Tabassum, daughter of Najeebullah, lost their lives when an ‘awan’ bomb fired by the gangsters fell inside their house near Juna Masjid in Zikri Mohalla.

Two men, 35-year-old Gul Muhammad, son of Jumma Baloch, and Waqas Tufail were wounded in a hand-grenade attack in Eidu Lane of Baghdadi.

A young man, who has yet to be identified, was found dead in the Jhat Pat market area in Chakiwara. He was shot multiple times. Law-enforcers said that it has yet to be ascertained whether he was killed during crossfire between the two groups or was part of one of the groups. Separately, an elderly man was shot dead near Juna Masjid. Several residents, including women and children, were also reportedly injured. The bodies and the injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi and Lyari General Hospital.

Extra contingents of law enforcers, including police and the Rangers, were unable to control the situation and take any action against the groups to stop the violence.

Bodies found

The bodies of the four men, suspected to be militants of a banned outfit, were found from an empty plot near Link Road, within the limits of the Memon Goth police station in district East — only a few days after three bodies of militants were found from Sharafi Goth. The unidentified bodies were moved to Edhi morgue after medico-legal formalities were completed at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

According to SHO Naeem Khan, all four victims were wearing shalwar kameez. Three of them appeared to be young whereas the fourth one was believed to be above 50 years of age. The victims were shot multiple times in their heads and faces but their bodies bore no marks of torture. Based on the initial investigation, the police believe that the victims were kidnapped and then killed. A case has been registered and the police is also looking for their families.

Separately, an unidentified woman was found dead from Block 15 in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Police officials said that the body, which had torture marks, was placed in a gunny bag. She was hit by a sharp material on her neck and strangled to death, said an official. Her body was moved to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth.

Targeted killings

A police sub-inspector, identified as Nazeer Khaskheli, was shot dead near the Shama Shopping Centre in Shah Faisal Colony.

The deceased was posted at the Shah Faisal Colony police station and was going somewhere when unidentified armed men attacked him.

In Orangi Town, 40-year-old Bashir Ishaq, was shot dead by unidentified armed men in Rabbani Mohalla in Frontier Colony within the limits of the Pirabad police station. The deceased reportedly hailed from Swat and had arrived in Karachi only a couple of days back.

Thirty-year-old Zar Lal, son of Taj Muhammad, was also shot dead in Orangi Town within the limits of the Iqbal Market police station.

In Gulshan-e-Buner, an elderly man, 60-year-old Azad Gul, was killed and a rickshaw driver, 24-year-old Hameed Gul, was wounded in a firing incident within the limits of Quaidabad police station. According to the police, the deceased hailed from Bajaur Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2014.