KARACHI: Four TikTokers, including famous TikTok star Muskan Sheikh and Amir Khan, were gunned down in the city’s Garden neighbourhood near the Ankalsaria Hospital early on Tuesday morning.
According to police, the four were travelling in a car when unknown men opened fire on them, killing Muskan Sheikh on the spot while the other three, Syed Rehan Shah, Amir Khan, and Saddam Hussein, succumbed to their wounds later.
Police believe that the attackers trailed the car and attacked them near the Ankalsaria Hospital with 9mm pistols. The tragic incident occurred at around 4:50am, the police said and added that the assassins first shot and killed Muskan inside the car and then pursued and shot the three. Police said Muskan died at the spot while the rest succumbed to their injuries at the Civil Hospital, Karachi.
District City SSP Sarfaraz Nawaz told the media that it appears to be a case of personal enmity as they were chased and killed by the gunmen but nothing conclusively could be said till the investigation was completed.
The officer said that the police were analysing the footage from the nearby CCTV cameras, and claimed recovering around nine empty shells of the 9mm pistol from the crime scene and sent them to the forensic division for ballistics cross matching. Police sources said that all of the deceased were TikTokers. They had left in the wee hours on Tuesday after Muskan and Amir Khan recorded and uploaded a TikTok video at Saddam Hussein’s house. The police have also obtained another video featuring Muskan and Amir shot little before the attack but that had not yet been uploaded on the social media platform. There are some police cases against Rehan and Saddam, police sources claim. Police said that Rehan and Sajjad had previously uploaded their TikTok video of firing in the air in Ittehad Town neighbourhood. The police had registered an FIR against the two after the video went viral on the social media.
Muskan was a divorced mother of a minor son and lived in Landhi neighbourhood, Saddam was from Gulshan-e-Ghazi, while Amir was a resident of Nayabad, and Rehan belonged to Rashidabad.
According to the post-mortem report conducted at the Karachi’s Civil Hospital, Amir was shot twice in the head and chest, Muskan received a bullet near her chest, while Saddam was shot in the stomach and neck. “The four roamed the city while Amir and Muskan recorded TikTok videos in Baldia Town,” the initial investigation revealed.
The initial investigation suggests that the assailants riding a car intercepted the victims’ Honda City and opened indiscriminate fire killing the female TikTok star, who was sitting next to the car driver, on the spot. “The rest of the three desperately ran for their lives but the culprits chased and gunned them down at a short distance from the car,” the initial investigation revealed. Police said that one of them had managed to reach the Ankalsaria Hospital where he was shot and killed. The suspects took around five minutes to complete their action and fled. Police also recovered cards of the Pakistan Qaumi Razakar (PQR) from the possession of two of the deceased.It was also learnt that all the four friends after dinner were heading towards Landhi to drop Muskan when the tragedy occurred. Police said that Muskan and Amir were best friends while they were also friends with Rehan and Saddam. The police added that Amir was also attacked five months ago by Rehman aka Shahji, a friend of Muskan.
