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KARACHI: Unidentified gunmen shot dead an opposition legislator and his guard, sparking violent scuffles between protesters and police in the restive port city of Karachi, police said.

Incident

Abdullah Murad, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member of the provincial assembly in southern Sindh province, was attacked as he left his home in the eastern Malir district by car.

"Murad and his guard died while being taken to hospital," Karachi city police chief Tariq Jamil said Saturday.

Police sources say MPA Abdullah Murad came out of his house in Malir at 10 a.m. to go to his office. His car was followed by a jeep in which some of his workers were sitting.

As he reached at some distance, his car was intercepted by two assailants riding on a motorcycle. They opened indiscriminate fire in which the driver of Abdullah Murad was killed and the MPA himself was critically injured and rushed to Jinnah Hospital where he succumbed his last due to excessive bleeding. The assailants feld from the scene.

The motive of the assassination was not immediately known.

Reaction

Party activists protesting the killing tried to block a main road in the city and threw stones at police and buses, witnesses said. "In return we fired a few teargas shells to disperse them," said a police officer.

All shops and markets were closed in Malir as Murad's body arrived back at his house, where some 2,000 supporters had gathered.

Additional police forces were brought in to maintain order.

Train movement suspended at Malir

Railways authorities in Karachi Railways Division suspended train movement for sometime after angry mob, protesting against the murder of MPA Abdullah Murad Baluch from Malir, resorted to pelting at Malir Railway station.

Railway officials said that Super Express and Bolan were stopped from moving out for safety of passengers.

The PPP, headed by the ex-prime minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto, is the largest single party in the Sindh assembly but the province is governed by a coalition led by ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Benazir Reax

PPP chief, Ms Benazir Bhutto Saturday denounced the murder of Member Sindh Assembly Abdullah Murad in Malir demanding a judicial probe into the incident and dismissal of the provincial government.

In a statement the wx-Prime Minister said that the cold blooded murder of Abdullah Murad was a targeted killing designed at removing him from the scene.

Ms Benazir said that 'it was intriguing that Abdullah Murad’s car was removed in a hurry from the scene without waiting for the preliminary investigations to complete.'

She said; that 'a few days ago late Abdullah Murad had also confided to senior Party colleagues in Sindh that a certain section in the provincial government was targeting him and that he feared for his life.'

Ms Bhutto said that it was a clear case of targeted killing and the perpetrators must be unearthed through judicial probe and punished in accordance with the law.

She said that 'the provincial government, which had failed to protect the life of a member of the Assembly, could not be expected to protect the life, honor and property of ordinary citizens and must be sacked immediately.'

The former Prime Minister also paid glowing tributes to late Abdullah Murad. She said that late Murad was in the forefront of struggle for advancing the cause of human rights in the province.

“The killers of late Abdullah Murad would not go scot free and will have to account for their crime, if not today then tomorrow”, she said.

3-day Mourning

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh on Saturday announced three-day mourning against the murder of Abdullah Murad, a party spokesman said.

“We have decided to mourn Mr Murad’s cold-blooded murder for three days from Sunday,” PPP spokesman, Taj Haider, said.