Karachi, July 23: Unidentified gunmen killed the chief security officer of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari last evening in Karachi. After being fired at by the assailants, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to bullet injuries.

According to officials, the assailants fired for two-three minutes and used an SMG rifle, .222 rifle and 9mm pistols.

Ejaz Durrani, a spokesman for Bilawal House, said that the unidentified gunmen opened fire on Khalid Shahenshah’s vehicle outside his home in Khayaban-e-Bukhari in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase VIII. Karachi Police Chief Khalid Mahmood confirmed the incident.

Shahenshah, a long-time PPP activist, was among a coterie of party security guards who was present besides Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

Shahenshah (45) had arrived at his house at around 2:40 pm after attending a meeting at Bilawal House, when assailants attacked his vehicle – a Toyota double cabin – shooting him six times in the back, reported the Daily Times.

The police have found a white Suzuki Mehran vehicle with fake registration plates near Sultan Masjid, Clifton Town Superintendent of Police Azad Khan said. The police are looking for the vehicle’s owner, Khan said, adding the vehicle might have been used in the attack. Senior officials of the Sindh police inspected the scene. The investigators found 39 empty shells at the site.

Zardari, who was in Islamabad when the attack took place, condemned the killing. (ANI)