Targeted: Two barbers gunned down by four assailants at their shop in Liaquatabad

This was the second such incident to have occurred in the vicinity recently.

KARACHI: Police have been unable to trace the assailants responsible for the series of target killings of barbers in District Central, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In the latest incident, two barbers were shot dead by at least four assailants who targeted their shop in FC Area, Liaquatabad, within the limits of Sharifabad Police Station. Ashraf, 35, and his uncle, Hameed, 50, were working at their shop when they were targeted on Tuesday night. The assailants, however, managed to escape after committing the crime. Both the victims were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.



This was the second such incident in the vicinity. A couple of days before Eidul Fitr, two other barbers were shot dead by armed motorcyclists at their shop. Though the police have yet to arrest the culprits, they suspect that both the attacks were carried out by the same group. “All four victims belonged to the Shia community,” SHO Shaukat Raza told The Express Tribune. “Our initial investigation suggests that both the incidents occurred over sectarian basis and the same men are behind these killings in the area.”

The officer said that a Lyari gangster was also killed during an encounter with the police when he was trying to rob a barber’s shop in the area on Eid day. The police, however, did not find any link of the gangsters with the same attacks on barbers.

On the other hand, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen condemned the incident and regretted that the law enforcement agencies have yet to initiate a crackdown against sectarian outfits in Karachi. “Our people are being forced to migrate,” said the MWM spokesperson. “After targeting professionals such as doctors and lawyers, the perpetrators are now attacking and killing people of other professions, particularly shopkeepers.”

An FIR No. 187/14 of the recent attack has been registered against unidentified persons on behalf of the victims’ family. The bodies of both the victims were taken to their hometown, Khanpur, for burial.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th,2014.