KARACHI: A senior Pakistani police official and his security guard were shot dead by motorcycle-borne gunmen in one of the most congested areas here on Friday.
Deputy Superintendent of traffic police, Hanif Ahmed and his guard constable Sultan were on way from their residence in the Azizabad area when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on their vehicle.
"The targeted attack took place in Hussainabad locality which is very congested in the morning time and after spraying bullets the two gunmen sped away," a rescue official said.
Senior Superintendent of Police Central Muqadas Haider said both the police officials died on the spot. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh A D Khawaja told the media that they suspected the same gang of militants was behind today's attack which has been targeting traffic police and general policemen in Karachi.
This is not the first-time policemen have come under attack in Karachi. On July, gunmen killed three policemen and a 12-year old boy in the Korangi area.
While in June, four policemen were killed when gunmen opened fire on their checkpost while in May two policemen on duty were gunned down by unidentified men in the posh Bahadurabad area.
The Counter Terrorism Department of the Sindh police believes after that a relatively unknown splinter group of militants who have returned from Syria are behind the attacks.
The group calls itself Ansar-ul-Sharia Pakistan.