Target attacks grip Karachi as MP's wife, daughter shot dead

Unidentified gunmen have shot dead wife and daughter of a provincial lawmaker in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, police said Tuesday. Police sources said that seven persons were killed in different parts of Karachi over the past 24 hours in target and religious sectarian-motivated attacks. Gunmen attacked the car of an opposition provincial assembly member in New Karachi area late Monday night, killing his wife and daughter. Their driver was also killed in the attack. Mir Bakhtiar Domki, member of southwestern Balochistan province, alleged that now women family members are being targeted due to political differences. Domki said he does not expect any justice from the government. Domki is the grand son of slain tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in a military operation in Balochistan in 2006. Police said motives behind the killing of the family members of the provincial lawmaker were not clear and it could be the result of family dispute. The powerful Urdu-speaking political group ‘Mutahida Qaumi Movement’ or MQM says that three of its supporters in North Nazimabad area were killed on Monday in a target attack. The MQM Chief Altaf Hussain expressed serious concern over the return of violence to Karachi and called for tough action against the criminals. Shiite groups said that one of their activist was also shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Monday in a sectarian-motivated attack. The paramilitary soldiers and police launched an overnight operation in violence-hit parts of the city and detained six persons in connection with the violence, a police officer said. A police officer told reporters that the raids were conducted on ‘specific information’ and arrested six persons and arms recovered from several houses.