Three provincial legislators were among those wounded when gunmen hurled hand grenades and opened fire on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) membership drive meeting in the city’s restive eastern district of Orangi Town late Friday.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Jamatul Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, said the attack was in revenge for the arrest and killing of Taliban members in Karachi.
“We will keep on targeting MQM, Awami National Party (ANP)and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Karachi,” he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The PPP rules southern Sindh province while the MQM represents the city’s dominant Urdu-speaking population.
Karachi, a city of 18 million people which contributes 42 percent of Pakistan’s GDP, has been plagued by sectarian, ethnic and political violence for years.
