18 killed as political violence erupts in Pakistan

[News_Editor]

18 killed as political violence erupts in Pakistan

2011-03-13 22:57:39 GMT+7 (ICT)

KARACHI (BNO NEWS) -- At least 18 people have been killed in the past 36 hours in Pakistan in a series of targeted political attacks, Ary News reported Sunday.

Six more people, most of them political workers, fall prey to the ongoing firing incidents in Karachi. A worker of the political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was gunned down by unknown assailants in the wee hours of Sunday, while five other people were reported dead after firing took place in three different locations.

The violence erupted in the city following the murder of a political activist and an elder brother of an alleged criminal in two separate incidents.

On Saturday, 12 people, including a 12-year-old child, were reported dead after violence erupted in various parts of the city after the incidents. Infuriated political workers resorted to aerial firing and set ablaze the office of People's Aman Committee (PAC) which is backed by ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.

An angry mob also set numerous cars and two buses on fire, while armed men forced shop owners to close all kind of businesses. The firing incidents triggered massive traffic jam across the city where people were witnessed stranded in traffic mess for many hours.

The unrest broke out at times when President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani were present in the city. They chaired different meetings but largely focused addressing concerns of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Ary News reported.

Heavy contingents of police and rangers were deployed in violence-hit areas in the wake of severe tension among political parties.

On Friday, at least six people were killed and three others injured overnight in Karachi after protests turned violent following the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau Justice Deedar Hussain Shah.

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