Thirty people died and about 70 injured in riots that erupted in the city after a provincial assembly member of the ruling Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was killed along with his bodyguard in a mosque where he went to attend the funeral prayers of a friend.
Police officials and hospital doctors confirmed that since the assassination of MPA Reza Haider, 30 people have been killed in incidents of rioting, firing and arson in different parts of Karachi and Hyderabad.
“We have received around 13 dead bodies and are treating 45 injured people most of them from gunshot wounds,” the medico legal officer of the state-owned, Jinnah hospital told PTI.
Doctor Abbas Rizvi at the Abbasi Shaheed hospital said nine dead bodies were brought to the hospital and dozens were being treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries.
“It is a precarious situation and there is trouble in many parts of the city and we have increased the number of policemen and the paramilitary Rangers patrolling the city,” city police chief, Waseem said.
Reza Haider, one of the oldest members of the MQM and a member of the Sindh Assembly, was gunned down along with his bodyguard, Khalid Khan when they came to a mosque in Nazimabad no 2 to attend the funeral prayers of a friend.
“Four persons riding a motorcycle and in a white car came to the mosque and as Reza Haider was performing ablution they fired at him from close range, it was a clearly a targeted killing,” another senior police official said.
The death of the MQM leader comes in the midst of a series of targeted killings in the city in which some 40 activists of different political and religious parties have been killed in July itself.
Soon after the killing of the MPA, activists sprung into action and ordered the closure of all major markets and shopping centres while major traffic jams were witnessed on the main roads as people rushed to their homes.
“We are trying to control the situation but the number of casualties could increase by Wednesday,” another police official admitted.
The dark and deserted streets, the tension and fear and the mob violence which also dozens of vehicles and shops brought back dark memories for Karachites of the riots after the assassination former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and the May
12 killings two years back.