Apr 30, 2009, 12:09 GMT
Islamabad - At least 32 people were killed and around four dozen more injured in ethnic violence in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, a police official said Thursday.
The clashes between activists of ethnic Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the minority-Pashtun population erupted Wednesday when gunmen shot dead two MQM supporters in the shanty-town neighbourhood of Khwaja Ajmair Nagri.
The violence later spread to several areas of Karachi, a metropolis of more than 16 million people, and continued early Thursday. Rival armed groups exchanged fire in the streets and torched vehicles and businesses.
Karachi's deputy police surgeon Liaquat Memon said several of the injured died overnight at four hospitals, raising the death toll to 32.
'The death toll may increase as some of the 50 injured are in critical condition,' he said, adding that most of the victims died of bullet wounds.
City police chief Waseem Ahmad said the rioters torched 16 vehicles, 20 shops and eight restaurants.
Authorities have deployed Sindh Rangers paramilitary forces to control the riots, with orders to 'shoot at sight' any troublemakers.
Educational institutions and businesses in many parts of the city remained closed on Thursday, and traffic was also very thin.
Karachi, which is the country's financial hub, has a long history of ethnic violence between the Mohajir, who migrated from India following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, and Pashtuns, who have moved from the North-West Frontier Province for economic reasons. The Mohajirs are represented by MQM.
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