KARACHI, May 6: A worker of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional was shot dead while three others were wounded in an armed attack on a party office in the Ayub Goth area of New Karachi on Monday, police and party sources said.

“The attack followed by clashes between the workers of the PML-F and Muttahida Qaumi Movement,” said the SHO of the Sohrab Goth police station.

The clashes broke out between the two political parties over hoisting of flags, the police said, adding that subsequently, gunmen attacked the PML-F, which resulted in the killing of Abdullah Gopang, 45.

The wounded were identified as Zaheer, 25, Ali Murad, 16, and Abdul Sattar, 30.

PML-F leader Aijaz Soomro said that three men armed with Kalashnikov rifles stormed into their election office for PS-126 and opened indiscriminate firing on the people there.

Aijaz, whose brother Shahid Soomro is contesting elections from the provincial assembly seat, said that the deceased was the party’s senior vice president of Gadap Town.

The body and the wounded victims were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, respectively.

“Such incidents showed that the election commissioner and the caretaker government set-up are not making sufficient efforts to curb the killings and ensure peaceful polls,” he said.

Speaking to Dawn, an official in charge of the Ayub Goth police post said that the PML-F leaders have nominated four persons in the case pertaining to the murder of their activist and wounding three others. “The suspects are Hanif alias Pachpan, Asghar alias Tedi, Naushad and Faizan,” he said, adding that they were activists of the MQM according to the PML-F.

Road leading to MQM head office closed

Police on Monday closed a main road from Ayesha Manzil to Gulshan-i-Iqbal for public to provide maximum security to the Nine Zero headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said SSP-Central Amir Farooqui.

The decision was taken in the wake of twin bomb blasts near the MQM’s stronghold on Saturday that claimed lives of three persons.

The commuters have been advised to take alternative routes.

Fear, panic in Lyari schools

Police, ambulances and a bomb disposal squad rushed to Lyari when calls were received about the presence of bombs in three schools.

The schools were subsequently vacated and after a thorough search, the team cleared the school buildings, said an official of the bomb disposal squad, Sabir Durrani.

All the schools were owned by one person, he added.