Senior journalist Aftab Alam shot dead in Karachi

Alam was shot dead by unidentified men outside his house in North Karachi

KARACHI: Two unidentified armed men shot dead senior journalist Aftab Alam on Wednesday in a drive-by shooting incident in the city's North Karachi area.

Alam was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside his house in Sector 11-C of North Karachi, sources told The Express Tribune.

The senior journalist was critically injured in the attack and was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, sources added.

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"He was targeted by two motorcycle riders waiting for him outside his house," DIG Feroze Shah told AFP.

He was struck by three bullets - two in the head and one in the neck, added Shah.

Alam had last worked for a leading private TV channel before retiring due to ill health last year, a colleague told AFP.

This is the second attack targeting media personnel in Karachi within 24 hours. Asatellite engineer associated with a private television channel was killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire on the channel’s DSNG van in Karachi on Tuesday.

The media van of private the broadcaster was attacked in the Bahadurabad neighbourhood of the city, where it was on assignment, police said. "The technician has died and the driver is injured in the attack," police officer Irfan Asif told AFP.

Later, an official from private TV channel confirmed the death of the technician named Arshad Ali Jaffery.

Senior police officer Javed Jiskani said the police were gathering evidence from the area where the attack took place and had launched investigation.

Journalist unions had reacted immediately to the attack, calling for greater security for media personnel and the speedy arrest of the attackers.

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Last year, one of the leading anchors of the country Hamid Mir was attacked in Karachi, surviving with multiple gunshot wounds.

In 2011, gunmen shot dead Karachi-based reporter Wali Khan Babar after he filed a report on criminal gangs warfare in the city.

Reporters without Borders, a media rights watchdog, says there has been a marked increase since 2014 in media freedom violations by government officials and various political factions in Pakistan.

Karachi, a port city of some 20 million and country's economic hub, is frequently hit by political and ethnic violence.

Paramilitary forces began a sweeping crackdown on alleged militants in the city in 2013, which has led to substantial drop in overall levels of violence.