KARACHI (AFP) — Thirty-five people have been killed and over 200 injured in two days of clashes blamed on activists from rival political parties in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, officials said Monday.
Figures provided by three Karachi hospitals showed 35 people had been killed and 268 injured since rioting began Saturday.
"We have received 15 bodies and 40 injured -- most of them sustaining bullet wounds -- since Saturday," said Dr Kaleem Shaikh at Karachi's Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Troops were authorised to use guns to quell the violence, which came as members of the ruling coalition Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) clashed.
Officials from the MQM and ANP denied their members were involved in the rioting.
"We have deployed the maximum number of paramilitary troops in violence-ridden Orangi town, where the situation is now under control," Major Mohammad Ali, spokesman of the paramilitary Rangers, told AFP.
"Our troops are patrolling and checking the affected localities and helping the police control the situation," he said.
Despite the patrols by 800 paramilitary troops, sporadic gunfire continued in different parts of Karachi Monday afternoon.
Over the weekend, rioters set shops and houses on fire, witnesses said, while residents in Orangi Town said they stayed at home for their safety.
Schools and most petrol stations were shut down across the port city, as the authorities feared further damage after mobs set fire to cars.
Even though there were widespread reports that their party members were part of the violence, representatives of the MQM and ANP denied involvement.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday directed provincial authorities to take "strict action", saying "no one will be allowed to put at risk the lives and property of the people".
Tensions between the ethnic Urdu-speaking MQM and Pashtuns from the North West Frontier Province who have settled in Karachi for jobs have been the source of past unrest.
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