As many as 2,721 people lost their lives in 2014 in different incidents of targeted killings in the city amid the ongoing operation against hardened criminals. The unabated targeted killings on sectarian, ethnic, and political grounds continued throughout the year also claimed the lives of doctors, engineers, lawyers, religious scholars and politicians.
According to police department's statistics, as many as 2,721 people were killed in various incidents of targeted killings in the metropolis since January 2014. The statistics further showed that some 26 bomb blasts occurred in the city in 2014. Karachiites witnessed the horrific incident of the year when 10 armed militants attacked Jinnah International Airport with sophisticated weapons which included rocket launchers and grenades. Twenty-six people, mostly belonging to Airport Security Force were killed in the attack, responsibility of which was claimed by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. All the 10 terrorists, who were killed by the law-enforcement agencies, were reportedly foreigners of Uzbek origin and belonged to the Islamic Movement of Uzbek.
The preceding year also witnessed terrorists' attacks on police and Rangers personnel and sensitive government installations. According to police data, some 145 cops were killed in various blasts and hand-grenade attacks.
The first blast of 2014 that took place on January 9, 2014, near Lyari Expressway's Essa Nagri interchange had claimed the lives of Criminal Investigation Department's superintendent of police Muhammad Aslam Khan and two other policemen. One month later, 13 police officials, belonging to elite force, were killed while 51 others were injured in a bomb blast that occurred on February 13 at a bus stop near Razakabad's Police Training Center.
On April 24, Inspector Shafiq Tanuli was killed near his house in a suicide blast in Old Sabzi Mandi area. SSP Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Farooq Awan, survived a suicide blast that occurred on September 25 in Defence Phase-IV, near Gizri graveyard. The blast had, however, claimed three lives.
On August 22, a road side bomb exploded near the headquarters of Ranger's 84 Wing. A passer-by was killed and 11 army personnel sustained injuries in the incident. Ten more personnel were killed in a terrorists' attack on the Rangers' North Nazimabad headquarters. Meanwhile, law-enforcement agencies had claimed to have arrested 19,878 criminals during 2014. The apprehended people are allegedly involved in heinous crimes such as murder, targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom and dacoities. Besides, 98 cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered in 2014. Police registered 434 cases of extortion, 971 of robberies, 1,513 of different street crimes, 17,043 of mobile-snatching and 3,579 cases pertaining to carjacking and 21,190 of motorbikes snatching cases in the last 12 months.
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