18 killed in Karachi violence

18 killed in Karachi violence

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuter): Bullet-riddled bodies of 12 people were found dumped in a mini-bus while six others were killed in attacks by unidentified gunmen in a fresh wave of violence yesterday in the port city of Karachi, police said.

The 12 people found dead in the mini-bus, parked near a college in the western district of Orangi Town in the early hours of Thursday, were shot at a close range, police said.

A police official who asked not to be named said all the deceased were ethnic Punjabis and Sindhis who, investigators believe, were alleged to have been kidnapped by activists of the Mohajir National Movement (MQM) on suspicion of being police informers.

"We think the act is a reprisal to yesterday's killing of four MQM activists by the police," the official said.

Four alleged militants of the MQM, which speaks for the Urdu- speaking Mohajirs who migrated from India at the time of Partition in 1947, were killed in a gun-battle with the police on Wednesday.

The police said the deceased were believed to have been kidnapped from different areas in the Orangi Town and later killed and dumped in the bus.

In another incident, yesterday morning in the same district, unidentified gunmen attacked a house and killed a father along with his three children, including two daughters of minor ages and a son, the police said.

No immediate motive of the killing was available with the police.

"There were no torture marks on the bodies of the victims which shows that the killing was swift and probably without much resistance," a police official said.

Police and ambulance sources said at least two more people were shot dead in District East and Central this morning but no details were available.