• Police find 11 spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol from crime scene.
  
• Security guard of nearby residential building also died in gun attack.
• DIG Shaikh says motives behind attack to be ascertained after probe.

KARACHI: Unidentified assailants gunned down Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Investigations Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Ali Raza in Karachi's Karimabad area on Sunday.

The senior police officer, who was a close friend of another martyred officer senior superintendent police (SSP) Chaudhry Aslam, was targeted by two gunmen near a residential building in the area.

Ali received a bullet in the head following the heavy firing by the culprits and was immediately taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

A security guard of the residential building also lost his life in the fierce gun attack.

Police officers confirmed that one of the armed men donned an ajrak — a traditional block-printed shawl in Sindh — while the second gunman hid his face with a helmet. The attacker used a 9mm pistol with a silencer to target the senior cop, they added.

They said that Ali frequently used to visit the area to meet his childhood friends which increased suspicions that the assassins carried out the attack after full recce.

The police personnel also found 11 spent bullet casings of a 9mm pistol from the crime scene.

The attackers opened fire at DSP Ali after he came out of his “bullet-proof vehicle”.

CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Asif Aijaz Shaikh while speaking to journalists following Ali’s killing today said that the culprits behind the attack would not be spared at any cost. He confirmed that the slain police officer “uses a bullet-proof vehicle”.

To a question regarding any threat to DSP Ali, Shaikh replied that “all CTD officers face threats”. He added that two persons were involved in the attack who fired 11 times at Ali.

DIG Shaikh further said that it would be too early to comment on the motives behind the attack which would be ascertained after a thorough probe.

Following the attack, senior CTD officers including Raja Umar Khattab, Mazhar Mashwani and Khurram Waris also visited the crime scene.

Heavy contingents of the law enforcement agencies cordoned off the whole area. Police investigators started collecting evidence from the crime scene and launched an inquiry to ascertain the motives behind the incident.