Funeral prayer of martyred Banuri clerics offered

KARACHI: The funeral prayer of clerics and their driver martyred in Karachi on Thursday was offered here in the main Banuri Town mosque, Geo News reported.

Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, 60, a cleric from one of the largest Islamic teaching facilities in the country, a fellow cleric, Mohammad Saleh, and driver Hassan Shah were gunned down when they were on their way to another seminary located in Sindhi Muslim Society.

The shooter, who was lying in waiting, opened fire at them in the Nursery area of the metropolis killing them on the spot.

Thousands turned out at the funeral prayer of both the clerics and their driver.

Mohammad Saleh and driver Hassan Shah were laid to rest in Dalmia graveyard, while Deenpuri's body was on way to his ancestral town for burial.

The CCTV footage of the shooting acquired by Geo News shows there was a single gunman who apparently expecting them with a handgun tucked in his belt. As their van decelerated near a crossroad, he pulled out his pistol and opened fire to stop it and then shot the clerics at a pointblank range while the high-roof van was still moving.

Security officials say it was a targeted killing and could have a sectarian dimension.