Second Shia doctor killed in 24 hours in Karachi

KARACHI: At least 12 people, including a Shia doctor and three seminary students, were killed and several others injured in separate incidents of violence in sprawling Karachi city on Wednesday.

In yet another high-profile Shia killing in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, a physician, Haider Raza, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in front of Darul Sehat Hospital. Another man accompanying Raza in his car was injured in the attack, but his identity could not be ascertained till the filing of this report.

The duty officer at the Shahrah-e-Faisal police station said the 50-year-old victim was getting in his car (registration no ASV- 987), outside the hospital when the attackers opened fire at him. The suspects shot thrice before managing to flee from the crime scene. The police official further said Raza was in charge of Darul-Sehat Hospital’s emergency department and a professor at the university.

The Jafaria Alliance and Pakistan Shia Ulema Council condemned the attack, and demanded an early arrest of the killers.

According to a spokesperson for Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen, the victim belonged to Shia community and it was a second such incident in the past two days. He said just a day before, a homeopathic doctor was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists near Yousuf Plaza in Federal B area.

The deceased, father of two, was a surgeon and head of the emergency section of the hospital.

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