Karachi: The bloodshed continued on Tuesday as 10 more people were killed in Karachi, with at least half of them targets of sectarian violence, officials said on Monday.
Police sources said that five Sunni men were killed in different parts of the city. They belonged to the conservative Deobandi movement and were either members or sympathisers of banned extremist outfits.
“Apparently they were targeted because of their sect,” senior police officer Muneer Shaikh said.
The five were shot dead within minutes of each other, taking the death toll on Tuesday to 10 as more bodies were found dumped in other areas this morning.
City police chief Shahid Hayat said a “conspiracy is being hatched to fan Sunni-Shiite clashes in the city.”
“We have identified the shooters and will arrest the killers within a couple of days,” Hayat said.
Unknown motorcycle riders targeted Jan Mohammad, who was the prayer caller or Muezzin in a mosque. He was shot near Goldmark Shopping mall.
In another incident, Mohammad Riaz and Mohammad Ramzan were killed by unknown motorcycle riders who opened fire on them while they were sitting at a hotel in Korangi industrial area. They both belonged to Ahle Sunnat wal Jammat (AWSJ), a Sunni extremist group.
In Akhtar Colony, two other men were shot dead while riding on a motorcycle.
They were identified as Tarek Shah and Yar Mohammad and were the graduates of a Sunni seminary and now teaching at a Sunni seminary.
One Mohammad Jan was also killed in Azam Basti whereas another man whose name was Raza Gul was also shot dead. Police sources said that the incidents also looked like sectarian killings but there might be some personal reasons behind those killings.
The killings came a day after five Shiites, including two doctors, were gunned down and three others were injured in different parts of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.
City police chief Shahid Hayat, who was meeting with a businessmen delegation, later told the press that a conspiracy was being hatched to instigate Sunni-Shiite clashes in the city.
He further disclosed that police had identified the killers, who targeted Shiite on Monday as well as the men who committed murders on Tuesday.
A paramilitary rangers spokesman in a statement said that senior ranger and police officials held a high-level meeting to assess the security situation created by Monday’s killings of Shiites and Tuesday’s attacks on Sunnis.
The meeting discussed the strong indications that the killings may have been carried out by militants of a political party. The aim of this could be to instigate people of both the sects to be lured into sectarian clashes during Moharram.
He said that the rangers and police were close to the actual culprits and had good leads and the killers would soon be arrested.
Police are already carrying out operations against criminal groups to curb sectarian and political killings.
— With inputs from AFP