DSP, Ahmadi community member killed in ‘sectarian attacks’

A deputy superintendent of police and a member of the Ahmadi community were gunned down in separate attacks – both apparently sectarian in nature – in Karachi on Sunday.

Traffic airport DSP Faiz Ali Shigri, a member of the Shia community, was killed and his driver head constable Rasheed injured in a gun attack near Laal Flats in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Police said the DSP and his driver were taken to a hospital where official succumbed to his injuries.

The DSP was sitting in his car accompanied by driver monitoring traffic at the Sunday Bazaar near Aladdin Park when two men riding a motorcycle fire gunshots at the vehicle.

The DSP had suffered bullet wounds to his chest. The police said the attackers had used a 9mm pistol and the spent bullet shells found at the scene were sent to the forensic division. The DSP lived in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Ahmadi killing:

A member of the Ahmadi community was shot dead outside his house in Block-1 of Gulshan-e-Kaneez Fatima in Sachal.

The police said Sajid Mehmood was attacked by two men riding a motorcycle. He was taken to the Jinnah hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Mehmood had suffered bullet wounds to his chest. Spent bullet shells were found at the crime through which the police determined that a 9mm pistol was used in the attack

Talking to The News, the counter-terrorism department’s transnational terrorists intelligence group in-charge Raja Umer Khattab said both attacks appeared to be sectarian in nature as the DSP and Mehmood were members of the Shia and Ahmadi communities respectively. He added that the attackers had probably monitored the movements of both men and targeted them on Sunday.

Khattab said there had been seven similar attacks in the East district, especially in the Abul Hassan Ispahani area and it seemed that a same group, associated with an international terrorist organisation, had carried them out. In fact, three of these attacks had been claimed by the terrorist organisation on its website.

The official noted that earlier target killings were precise more in nature, carried out with a single gunshot, but the modus operandi of this group was different and its members fired indiscriminately injuring other people besides the targeted person.

Inquiry ordered:

The chief minister has ordered the IGP to conduct an investigation into the two attacks. The IGP has directed the DIG East to submit a report to him after visiting the crime scenes, ensuring that evidence was collected and thoroughly investigating the two attacks.