Islamabad: A new wave of targeted killings has jolted Pakistan’s mega city of Karachi, leaving about a dozen people dead in two days, officials and media reports said Monday.

Unidentified gunmen on motorbikes carried out the shootings in different parts of the port city, just as life there was returning to normal after a tense situation following the September 16 murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) central leader Imran Farooq in London.

According to the reports the victims included political workers as well as activists of a religious outfit known as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. Paramilitary Rangers and police were on high alert in the affected areas.

Scores of people have been killed this year in periodical waves of target killings in the country’s largest city and its financial and industrial centre.

Tough warnings and measures by the authorities have apparently not succeeded in ending the vicious cycle in Sindh province’s capital, which has a history of sectarian, ethnic and political violence.