KARACHI, 3 September 2003 — Gunmen opened fire on a funeral in southern Karachi for two political party workers slain earlier yesterday, killing five more people, police and eyewitnesses said.
The assailants, who sped off in a vehicle, opened fire as mourners left a graveyard after burying two activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which represents Muslims who migrated from India.
Among the dead in the shooting at the funeral was Qari Yaqub Abdullah, an imam of a nearby Sunni Muslim mosque. Police believe he was caught in the crossfire as he stood outside his mosque when the attackers sprayed the area with gunfire. Another two people are in critical condition in hospital, say police.
There were no arrests and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Karachi Deputy Inspector General of Police Tariq Jamil said police were investigating.
Yesterday’s funeral was for Asif Jatan and Naveed Murtaza, who were shot and killed in a pre-dawn attack in the city’s densely populated Liaqatabad neighborhood.
“Those people who do not want to see peace were behind today’s killings,” said Aftab Sheikh, adviser to the provincial government.
Meanwhile, in an incident that appeared to be unconnected, a journalist for the Urdu-language Azaz newspaper, Mohammed Akbar, 34, was shot in the head by two attackers, said Rashid Khan, a police officer in southern Karachi, where the attack occurred.
He is in serious condition.
The assailants knocked on Akbar’s door. As he opened it, he was shot, police said. The gunmen escaped on a motorcycle.
No one immediately took responsibility for the shooting. Police said Akbar previously worked for a magazine published by a radical Islamic group that has been sharply critical of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or United People’s Movement.
