KARACHI, 16 June 2006 — Gunmen ambushed a Pakistani police car here yesterday killing five people, police and a hospital official said.
Unidentified motorcyclists shot dead a deputy superintendent of police, Central Jail, Amanullah Niazi, three other policemen and a pedestrian in Electronics Market of Saddar area here yesterday. Six other were injured.
The men were armed with automatic rifles and riding on four motorcyles. They opened fire on the police car on a street near the city’s main electronics market, sending shoppers fleeing for their lives.
“It appears to be a targeted killing ... It’s confirmed that four policemen were killed,” said senior police official Sanaullah Abbasi. A civilian in another vehicle was also killed, an official at a state-run hospital said.
Provincial Interior Minister Rauf Siddiqui said the attack was an act of terrorism but it was not clear who was behind it: “We are investigating.”
DSP Karachi Central Jail Amnaullah Niazi was among the five killed in the shooting. Other deceased were identified as ASI Habibullah, constables Muhammad Azeem, Faqeer Muhammad and a civilian Mushtaq. The injured have been admitted to the Civil Hospital in Karachi.
Abbasi said that the shooting caused a stampede and triggered a traffic jam in the city’s busy business area.
Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, has a record of violence but the assault was one of the most brazen attacks on police in years. Militants have launched a string of attacks on security forces and foreign targets in the teeming city in recent years, while criminal gangs are also responsible for much violence.
The head of police investigations, Manzoor Mughal, said Niazi, killed in the ambush, had been receiving threats from “criminal elements” for some time. He did not elaborate.
The white Toyota police car was riddled with bullets and most of its windows were shot out. Blood was smeared throughout the interior of the car and on its doors.
Six people were wounded, three of them policemen. Two of the wounded were in critical condition, the hospital official said. A wounded policeman, Mohammad Waris, told reporters the gunmen attacked as the car was stopped at a traffic light. “I’ve no idea of what happened. Suddenly firing started and I ducked to save myself,” he said.
People scattered as the shooting erupted. It went on for about two minutes, witnesses said.
“I just heard firing and looked up to see a couple of men getting off bikes and firing into the white Corolla,” said a witness, Imdad Ali.
After they finished shooting, the gunmen got back on their motorcyles and drove off.
Abbasi said police had fired at the gunmen and one of their motorcyles had been found abandoned.
“One of our guards returned fire but we don’t know if any of the attackers were killed or wounded,” he said.
A few years ago four officials of the Central Jail Karachi including Niazi suffered burn injuries when several prisoners threw boiling water on them in the jail premises.
But a press note issued by the Central Prison Karachi said, “Having felt an acute need of a suitable facility to accommodate superior class prisons due to various orders of the court, to this effect the deputy superintendent of this jail, Amanullah Khan Niazi was directed to get wards No 22 and 23 vacated.
“Resisting the same, some of the troublesome and mischievous inmates of these wards threw boiling water on him as well the accompanying staff,” it added.
In 2004, gunmen stormed into a Karachi police station, killing five policemen and wounding one.
— Additional input from agencies
