Karachi red with blood again

Violence in Karachi seems to be spiralling out of control as 22 more people, including five policemen, were gunned down in the country’s financial hub since Thursday midnight, bringing the death toll in the last three days to 72. The killings contradicted Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s claim that not a single incident of targeted killing had taken place in the city since Thursday midnight.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), meanwhile, demanded the government deploy the army to restore order in the city but Malik and Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan said the police and paramilitary personnel would be able to bring peace to the violence-stricken city.
According to details, five Elite Force personnel were killed and 40 others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their bus in the Korangi area late on Friday night. A deputy superintendent of police was among those injured. According to a private TV channel, the policemen were in plain clothes and were to be deployed A man was gunned down in Orangi Town while police found two trussed up bodies in the Lyari stream near the Khamosh Colony area. Another two bodies were found in the Bakra Peeri area while six people were killed in North Nazimabad, Kharadar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mobina Town, Liaquatabad and Kemari Town areas.
According to police, another body was found in a gunny bag near Kharadar Jamaat Khana, while a man was gunned down and another sustained bullet injuries in Kemari. Another man was shot dead in Mobina Town. The deceased was said to be a worker of a political party. Unidentified armed men shot a person in the C area of Liaquatabad, killing him instantly while another was killed and one injured in Block 5, Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. Armed men cordoned off the Chakra Goth area of Korangi and opened indiscriminate firing on houses. They later broke into the houses and tortured the residents, killing two and injuring several others. Most of the residents of the area were Sindhi. There were also reports of a rocket being fired in the Agra Tag area of Lyari. No casualty was reported in the attack. However, two shops and a warehouse were damaged.
Meeting: Meanwhile, Malik and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah presided over a meeting to review the ongoing situation in the metropolis and decided that stern action would be taken against killers, hooligans and extortionists. Malik said every state force would be used to maintain law and order in Karachi, adding that the perpetrators would not be spared. Later, addressing a press conference, Malik said targeted killings in Karachi had come to an end. “Not a single killing was reported since midnight of Thursday,” he claimed. “As many as 52 people have been arrested and would be presented to the media soon,” he said. In a statement, Sindh Home Minister Manzor Wasan said the army was not required to control the law and order in the city. “Police can control the situation… demands of army deployment in the city is a political tactics,” he said.