Hitmen used in high-profile Karachi killings

KARACHI: ‘Hired killers’ were used to carry out some of the high-profile killings in the city this year, investigators have found.

Murders of Pakistan Army personnel, Rangers, policemen, traffic police personnel and the renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri were carried out by hitmen or the so-called ‘Channel 2’ killers, investigators revealed in a report.

A week ago traffic police sub-inspector Muhammad Arshad was fatally shot at Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad. Bullet shells from a 9 mm pistol were found at the site of the killing but could not be traced.

On July 26 two Army personnel Razzaq and Khadim Hussain were martyred when unknown assailants shot at an Army vehicle in the Saddar area. The attackers had used an empty catcher and no bullet shells were found at the venue.

On June 22 unknown attackers had shot and killed Amjad Sabri near the Liaquatabad underpass. They had used a 30 bore pistol but authorities could not trace the weapon. Police had initially nabbed a primary suspect but for undisclosed reasons the arrest could not be made public.

In May two policemen Shakeel and Kamran were murdered. On April 20 seven policemen standing guard for polio teams in Orangi Town were killed.

According to investigators, these killings were carried out by terrorists belonging to banned organisations, also called Channel 2 killers. The killers remain at large, some reportedly escaped abroad using the Karachi to Balochistan route.