Fresh wave of violence kills eight in Pakistani city of Karachi

Separate incidents of violence and targeted killings have claimed lives of at least eight more people in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.

Security sources say heavily armed gunmen shot dead at least four people traveling in a taxi in Quaidabad district on Thursday, daily Dawn newspaper reported.

Separately, a man and his wife — both doctors — were killed when they came under a militant attack at their clinic in the area of Abulhasan Ispahani road.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and some others received bullet injuries when unknown gunmen opened fire on them in the Hub River Road and the Baldia Town’s Abidabad area.

Security sources say police have arrested nearly 30 suspected criminals and recovered weapons from them in different parts of the troubled city over the past 24 hours.

scores of people have been killed in political and ethnic violence across the volatile city over the past few weeks.

Karachi has experienced a fresh spate of violence and targeted killings over the past few months.

Sectarian, political and ethnic violence in Karachi has killed hundreds of people in Pakistan’s main commercial hub so far this year. The city has also witnessed dozens of incidents of targeted killings against Muslims in recent months.

The developments also come days after Pakistan’s top court ordered the government law enforcement agencies to take immediate action against pro-Taliban militants in the country’s largest city.

The Supreme Court ordered the government in Sindh Province, of which Karachi is the capital, to take the issue of the presence of the Taliban in the city seriously.

Reports say at least 7,000 Pro-Taliban militants have made their way into the country’s largest city and its commercial hub.

The city is home to numerous ethnic groups and has been hit by clashes between rival ethnic and political factions in the past two decades.

Thousands of people have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war against terrorism, according to local media.

Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.