KARACHl: A senior official of the House Building Finance Company was shot dead in the Karsaz area on Friday evening, Sharea Faisal police and hospital officials said.

They added that Fazal Mohammad Dahiri, 45, was travelling in a car when unidentified gunmen travelling in another car opened fire on him at Karsaz near the flyover.

The victim sustained multiple bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. The deceased was the regional head (south) of the HBFC.

The city police chief, Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh, told Dawn that the gunmen travelling in a car chased him. They initially hit his car and when it stopped, they opened indiscriminate fire on him with 9mm and .30-bore pistols. The city police chief said that the victim had also been kidnapped in his home town of Nawabshah in the recent past.

However, Mr Shaikh added that the act of indiscriminate firing indicated the possibility of some personal enmity.

East Zone DIG Amir Farooqi told Dawn that Mr Dahiri had told co-workers that he had been `upset` since the last one week due to some family problems. Apparently, his son had recently married a woman against the wishes of the woman`s family.

A family source who wished not to be named told Dawn that Mr Dahiri had also sought help of an impodant political family of Sindh to `pacify` the girl`s family.