38 killed in Karachi, Pakistan in violent 24 hours

At least 38 people were reportedly killed in different firing incidents that broke out over the last 24 hours in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, plunging the city into a new wave of violence. The violence in Karachi, which has virtually never stopped over the last few months, got escalated on Wednesday night when a former member of the National Assembly Waja Karim Dad, who was also a regional head of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party in Karachi, got killed while preparing to break fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a hotel in the Kharadar area of the city. Four unknown gunmen riding on two motorcycles opened fire at him and other people around indiscriminately, killing five people on the spot and injuring some others, said the police. Prior to this incident, at about 6:00 p.m. local time Wednesday, unknown miscreants reportedly hurled five handgrenades in the Bhempura area of the city, killing at least three people including two men and a girl and injuring a dozen others. One car and a rickshaw were also destroyed during the blasts, said local reports, adding that the explosions were later followed by a fierce firing between two unknown groups of people. Police said that on Thursday morning a number of bullet-ridden bodies were found thrown in bags in different parts of the city and they were the bodies of the people who got kidnapped or went missing on Wednesday or before. Many local residents flocked to the city's main hospitals to collect the bodies of their relatives since Wednesday night. A lot of women were seen crying over the bodies of their beloved ones placed at hospitals. Some of the local residents expressed their anger over the lawless situation in the city by placing placards over the bodies of their slain family members, demanding peace and law. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the killing of the former member of the National Assembly and ordered an immediate investigation into the killing.