[Dawn] At least five Shia Musselmens, including two doctors, were bumped off Monday and three others were maimed in different parts of Pakistain's port city of 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...
, police officials said.
City police chief Shahid Hayat confirmed the killings saying five members of the Shia community were rubbed out in several districts.
A doctor was rubbed out in Manghopir neighbourhood in western district and another was bumped off around noon at Tariq Road in the eastern part of the city.
They were identified by police as Dr Sher Ali and Dr Naseem Zaidi.
"The killing pattern shows that they were apparently carried out on sectarian grounds," Javed Alam Odho, the deputy inspector general of police told AFP.
The other two victims were killed in central district when unknown attackers burst into a tailor's shop and opened fire.
The owner and a worker were killed and three others were maimed.
"The attack seemed to be on sectarian lines as all of the people inside the shop were Shias," senior police officer Aamir Farooqi said.
The fifth killing took place in Gulshane Iqbal town where a Shia youth was rubbed out by gunnies riding a cycle of violence, Pir Mohammad Shah, a police brass hat told AFP.
Majlise Wahdatul Musselmeneen (MWM), an alliance of Shia Musselmen groups held protest rallies and sit-ins in different parts of Karachi to condemn the killings.
The latest attacks came ahead of the beginning of the Musselmen holy month of Moharram, when Shias mourn the seventh century martyrdom of Hussain, the grandson of prophet Mohammad (PTUI!), along with his family members.
Shias make up around a fifth of Pakistain's predominantly Sunni Musselmen population.
Police are already carrying out operations against criminal groups to curb sectarian and political killings.
Security would be further tightened in the month of Moharram, they said.
"We are already carrying out the operation against sectarian and other elements and we would certainly intensify our efforts during the coming days,"Odho said.
Karachi, a city of 18 million people which contributes 42 per cent of Pakistain's GDP, is rife with murder and kidnappings and has been plagued for years by ethnic, sectarian and political violence.