KARACHI: Two people were injured when assailants opened fire and threw crackers near a private university in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Monday evening, causing fear and panicin the nearby localities.

`Assailants threw two crackers which landed near the boundary wall of Habib University,` said Gulshan SP Abid Qaimlchani.

The university`s security guards responded by firing into the air but it did not appear to be an attack on the university, he said.

Its motive seemed to create harassment and fear. Two university employees sustained minor injuries in the incident, he said.

Contingents of police and Rangers rushed to the university and launched a search operation in the nearby Pehlwan Goth locality, said SP Qaimkhani.

`The incident did not appear to target university,` believed Habib University president Wasif Rizvi.

Mr Rizvi said that a law and order issue emerged in the nearby Pehlwan Goth area where suspects opened fire, causing the university`s security personnel to be alert.

The varsity`s spokesperson, Sibtain Naqvi, said late in the evening that the Rangers and police cleared the university premises after carrying out a search operation.

`We received two wounded persons, Abdul Rehman, 25, and Hanif Asmatullah, 24, from the area,` said Dr Seemin Jamali of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. They had `bullet wounds` on their legs but they were in a stable condition, she added.