Chinese national killed, two injured in Karachi attack

KARACHI: A Chinese couple, working as dentists in Karachi’s Preedy area, came under attack by a terrorist associated with a banned outfit on Wednesday. In the attack, a medical assistant, who was also a Chinese national, was killed while the couple was injured.

Officials said the incident took place on Wednesday afternoon at the HU Dental Clinic, near Empress Market, Preedy police limit. In the attack, Ronald Raimond Chao, 32, was killed while Dr Richad Hu, 50, and his wife Margaret Hu, 45 were injured. The officials said investigations revealed that the incident took place at around 4:30pm. 

An unidentified person posing as a patient came to the clinic and sat in the waiting area for treatment. After a few minutes, he opened random fire due to which Dr Richard, his wife and the medical assistant were injured. They were moved to the Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital where Ronald expired. Later, the couple was shifted to the Jinnah Hospital, Karachi. The deceased had received bullet wounds in his upper torso, which became the cause of his death.

Following the incident, police responded to the emergency and cordoned off the area for evidence collection. The CCTV footage of the clinic and nearby shops has been obtained and was being processed for identification of the assailants.

The officials said that after the incident, the accused along with his accomplice who was waiting outside on a motorcycle managed to escape. The assailant was wearing a red cap and clad in dark blue trousers and shirt. Senior officials of the Sindh Police, including DIG CTD Asif Aijaz Shaikh and SSP South Asad Raza, visited the crime scene.

Talking to The News, a CTD official claimed that the newly-formed banned outfit Sindhudesh People’s Army (SPA) had accepted responsibility for the attack. The organisation was earlier involved in threatening Chinese citizens.

Asif Aijaz Shaikh said an FIR of the incident would be registered at the CTD police station, including terrorism act clauses. He said they had developed the footages from cameras installed at nearby locations and were also conducting geo-fencing. Moreover, they were also working upon the CDR of the area that could help in investigations. He said CTD officials talked to witnesses and one of them claimed that the assailant had entered the clinic and informed Ronald about the reason of his check-up. The medical assistant told him to wait. After 10 to 15 minutes, the accused took out his pistol and opened random fire.

The police, with the help of footages and statements of witnesses, are trying to develop sketches of the suspects. They have recovered bullet shells of 9mm pistol from the scene, which have been sent for forensic examination.

Aijaz said that Dr Richard and his wife were dual nationals and had been residing in Karachi for the last 40 to 50 years. They had been running the clinic for 40 years. They were residing in Cantt, Karachi.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the attack. In a statement on Wednesday, he regretted the death of Ronald. He prayed for early recovery of the injured. He asked the Sindh government to expeditiously complete the probe into the incident to bring to justice the culprits behind the attack.

He said such cowardly and intolerable attacks couldn’t undermine the everlasting relations between China and Pakistan. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also condemned the incident. He directed the Sindh chief secretary to furnish a report related to the firing incident. He said such incidents were intolerable and assured that perpetrators of this crime would be arrested soon. The interior minister also directed enhancing security of Chinese nationals.