M A I N   N E W S

14 killed as rioting breaks out

Karachi, December 27
At least 14 persons were killed, including 10 in this port city, as rioting broke out tonight in several parts of Pakistan following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Television channels reported 10 deaths in different parts of Karachi in incidents of firing, looting and setting vehicles, shops and petrol pumps on fire by enraged activists.

Police officials said they had reports of people killed in violence but could not confirm the exact figures but said over 100 vehicles had been torched while miscreants had also set dozens of petrol pumps and shops on fire in various parts of the city.

Miscreants also attacked and set on fire police stations in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Malir Goth.

Two people were killed in Lahore in Punaj province where shops, buses and cars were set on fire, a police officer said. Sporadic gunfire could also be heard echoing around the city. Two other people were shot dead in the southern province of Sindh.

“Armed men are roaming around on the road and setting vehicles on fire. They have fired upon some shops to force them to pull down their shutters,” a scared resident in Karachi s populated Gulshan-e-Iqbal area said.

Eye witnesses said armed activists had stopped cars and set them on fire in different parts of the city after manhandling the occupants while one reporter was beaten up in the upmarket area of Clifton home to Bhuttos Bilawal house and her family residence.

The interior ministry declared a red alert in the country after Bhutto’s assassination with para-military troops being deployed to maintain law and order. — PTI