SSP man among seven shot dead

Karachi: Seven people, including an activist of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), were gunned down in the city on Thursday. Thirty-year-old Faisal, an SSP activist, and 33-year-old Lateefa Bibi were gunned down while five-year-old Danish, Ameena, Sharifa, Asif, Abdul Waqas, Junaid, Usman and an unidentified man suffered injuries during a bloody clash that erupted in Godhra Camp, New Karachi, between SSP activists and those belonging to the Sunni Tehrik (ST). Later, two of the wounded succumbed to their injuries. However, their identities could not be ascertained.

According to the New Karachi Industrial Area police, the deadly incident took place after news spread regarding activists of Sunni Tehrik kidnapping three workers Asif Qadri, Imran Atari and Junaid from New Karachi Sector 11.

Sipah-e-Sahaba activists sought revenge and marched to Godhra Camp in New Karachi and opened fire on the office of the Sunni Tehrik.

ST activists, after hearing gunfire, came out of their residences and fired in retaliation. The gun battle resulted in the death of Sipah-e-Sahaba activist Faisal and a woman, Lateefa Bibi, while eight other bystanders received bullet wounds.

Two of the injured later died at hospital. Law enforcers tried to control the situation after arriving at the scene, but both sides continued firing on each others.

The police later took the bodies as well as the injured to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for postmortem and treatment.

Meanwhile, 58-year-old Aqeel Ahmed was shot dead by two men riding a motorcycle after they intercepted his vehicle near Nazimabad No 1. The Rizvia Society police believe Ahmed’s murder was yet another act of target killing.

In another part of the metropolis, 50-year-old Haider Khan, a retired Frontier Corps (FC) official, was shot dead after unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire on him outside his residence in Muzaffar Colony.

According to Quaidabad police, his neighbors reported the murder and their mobile unit shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities.

They said that Khan hailed from Waziristan and had ventured to Karachi to seek employment. Investigators believe that he was murdered over an old enmity.

Also, 35-year-old Ashraf Khan was sitting at his Paan shop near Jauhar Morr when he was gunned down by two men riding a motorcycle.

The Shahrae Faisal police shifted his body to the JPMC for a postmortem. According to them, the victim lived in Lal Flat situated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and they believe that like Haider, Ashraf too was killed over a personal enmity.

The original article can be found at The News.

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