Sectarian violence claims two lives: dozens of vehicles torched

A fresh spree of sectarian violence prevailed in the city with the start of new Islamic year, leaving two persons killed and 11 wounded while over two dozen vehicles were torched at Numaish Chowrangi in the limits of Soldier Bazaar police station.
According to police and eyewitnesses, some participants of a protest rally, called by defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) against the Nato attack on Mohmand agency resorted indiscriminate firing at the Shia camps at Numaish Chowrangi while returning from Karachi Press Club after protest demonstration.
Resultantly, two persons including Zain-ul-Abideen, 25, and Azhar Hussain, 32, sustained fatal bullet wounds and died on the spot while one Ayaz got injured and was rushed to nearby hospital for treatment. The victim Zain was affiliated with Butrab Scouts and was resident of Mehmoodabad, while Azhar served for Pak Hyderi Scouts camp.
Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan claimed to have detained over a dozen rioters and ordered to take independent inquiry of the said incident. Akhter Mir, Secretary Sindh Boy Scouts, said tat the victims came under attack when they were sitting at their stalls.
Eyewitnesses said the miscreants, who opened indiscriminate firing on Shia camps, were unable to flee and were caught by Sindh Rangers near Alami Majlis-e-Khatam-e-Nabowat situated at main intersection.
They said although Rangers had taken the alleged gunmen into custody, they were unable to shift them as enraged crowd besieged the armoured personnel carrier (APC) and demanded handing over of the miscreants to them.
The angry protesters, who refused to disperse from the place and declined the directives of their religious scholars and clerics, were charged by the rangers, in which eight others persons including a senior reporter of a private TV channel, Ahsan Kohati, sustained bullet wounds.
The mob, gathered at the spot, was shouting slogans against the defunct organisation and the government and demanded to take stern action against them.
Later, the rangers dispersed the enraged people through intense shelling and firing and managed to shift the detained culprits to some unknown place. Meanwhile, the miscreants set over two dozens vehicles ablaze, including two rickshaws, two cars and several motorcycles.
Separately, three more persons, including two activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), were gunned down in incidents at various parts of the metropolis.
The incident took place at block IV Gulshan Iqbal where an unidentified armed rider opened indiscriminate firing on Mir Sikander Ali, 26, son of Hamza, and Naseer, 25, son of Kaseer Ahmed. Resultantly, both victims sustained fatal bullet wounds and died on the spot. Their bodies were shifted to nearby private hospital and later were moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico legal formalities.
Police said both victims, who were residents of Gilgit Baltistan, were activists of MQM, while Sikander was sector In charge of Gilgit MQM sector. They said that Sikander, who had arrived in Karachi seven days ago to meet his uncle residing in Soldier Bazaar No 2, went to Gulshan to meet someone where unidentified armed riders targeted him. They said two empty shells of 9 mm pistol were recovered from the spot.
They suspected that both victims might have been murdered over personal ground. No case was registered till filing of this report. Yet another youth was targeted at Ghazi Goth. His identity was yet to be ascertained. He was shot dead while going somewhere after offering Asr prayers in Rehmania Mosque in Ghazi Goth, Manghopir, where unidentified armed men reached and sprayed bullets on him. Resultantly he received six bullets and died on the spot. The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities and later moved to Edhi Morgue pending identification.