[Dawn] Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, a top holy man of the Jamia Banuri Uloom Islamia was rubbed out Thursday, with at least nine other people killed in Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
in the last 24 hours, officials said.
Deenpuri, 60, was a top mufti at the seminary. He was being driven in a car with a fellow holy man when a gunman opened fire near the eastern neighbourhood Nursery.
"We have got blurred close-circuit camera footage that shows there was a single gunman who was waiting for them," a senior police official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
"When the car slowed down near a traffic intersection, he opened fire to stop it and then attacked them at close range," he said.
Fellow holy man Mohammad Saleh, 45, and driver Hassaan Shah, 27, were also killed.
"It was a assassination and could have a sectarian dimension," another security official told AFP.
Seven others have died in acts of violence in the city since late Wednesday, he said.
Fear and panic gripped the area after the killing of Mufti Deenpuri, as enraged protestors erupted into the streets disrupting vehicular traffic on Sharea Faisal, which is one of the main arteries of the city.
Two people were bumped off near the Northern Bypass area.
Earlier, three bodies, bearing torture marks, were found stuffed in gunny bags in Bloody Karachi's BaldiaTown area. The victims were kidnapped a day earlier from Orangi town's Mominabad area in Bloody Karachi.
Another tortured body was found in Timber market area of Bloody Karachi.
One person died in a gun firing incident in the city's Landhi area.