Sindh CM announces ‘grand operation’ in Karachi after 14 killed

The country’s financial hub remained under a spell of violence as 14 more people, including a religious leader, were killed in separate targeted attacks across the port city on Thursday as Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah announced to carry out a “grand operation” to wipe out terrorism and restore peace in Karachi.

Police said unidentified armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle on the main Shahrah-e-Faisal near Nursery Bridge, killing three people on the spot.

Police said the dead were identified as Mufti Abdul Majeed, Mufti Muhammad Salih and Hisaan Ali Shah. Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri was a religious scholar at Jamia Binoria.

Rescue workers rushed to the spot and moved the bodies to a nearby hospital.

Earlier, police recovered six bodies packed in gunny bags from various parts of the city.

Another two bullet-riddled bodies were found near Askari Park in Pak Colony and University Road areas. Three more bodies were discovered packed in gunny bags in Qaimkhani Colony of Baldia Town late on Wednesday night.

The men had been were kidnapped the other day, tortured and then killed.

Police claimed that unidentified people threw the bodies from a car near Baho Chowk. It said that all the three were abducted from Orangi Town area on Tuesday at 6pm.

Another body was found near Timber Market located in Old City area.

Meanwhile, a man was gunned down near Habib Ground in Landhi. The deceased was identified as 24-year-old Danish. Unidentified gunmen also killed another two people in Surjani Town near the northern bypass.

‘GRAND OPERATION’

The chief minister’s announcement of launching a “grand operation” comes as there’s no letup in violence in the city.

A religio-political leader showed his displeasure and called for protests against the targeted killings.

“We have no expectations of getting justice,” said Qari Mohammad Islam, the Karachi chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, one of the largest Sunni political parties.

“This entire nation, the citizens of Karachi, the students and clerics are exhausted from carrying the bodies of our elders… The time is near when we will give a call for everyone to come out into the streets,” he said.

After holding a high level security meeting at the Chief Minister House, Shah ordered officials to call more police contingents from other districts of Sindh for deployment in the metropolis.

Shah ordered a joint police-rangers targeted operation against the terrorists who have spread a deadly wave of violence in the financial hub of the country.

Expressing outrage at the additional inspector general of police in Karachi, he ordered him to restore peace and not to hesitate from taking any large scale action in the city.