Gunmen Kill 3 People at Pakistan Funeral
Tue Sep 2,12:25 PM ET

By AFZAL NADEEM, Associated Press Writer

KARACHI, Pakistan - Gunmen opened fire on a funeral for two political party workers slain earlier Tuesday, killing three people, police and witnesses said.

The assailants, who sped off in a vehicle, opened fire as mourners left a graveyard after burying two activists of the Mutahida Qami Movement, which represents Muslims who migrated from India.


Among the dead in the shooting at the funeral was Qari Yaqub Abdullah, a cleric of a Sunni Muslim mosque. Police believe he was caught in the crossfire as he stood outside his mosque when the attackers sprayed the area with gunfire.


There were no arrests and no reported claim of responsibility. An investigation was under way, said Tariq Jamil, deputy inspector general of police in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city.


Tuesday's funeral was for Asif Jatan and Naveed Murtaza, who were shot and killed in a pre-dawn attack in this restive port city.


In an incident that appeared to be unconnected, a journalist for an Urdu-language newspaper was shot in the head by two attackers, said Rashid Khan, a police official in southern Karachi, where the attack occurred. Mohammed Akbar, 34, was listed in serious condition.


The assailants knocked on Akbar's door, and he was shot when he opened it, police said. The gunmen escaped on a motorcycle, police said.


No one immediately took responsibility for the shooting. Police said Akbar previously worked for a magazine published by a radical Islamic group that has been critical of the Mutahida Qami Movement, or United People's Movement.


The party has been blamed for previous attacks on journalists.


Politically motivated attacks often occur in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, with 14 million people.


Much of the violence is between supporters of the Mutahida Qami Movement and its breakaway faction, the Mohajir Qami Movement, or Refugee People's Movement.


Both factions represent Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India in 1947.

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Whoever did this was SICK![:(!]