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Pakistan Calls In 1,000 Troops To Karachi After Scores Killed

July 08, 2011

Pakistan has ordered 1,000 extra troops to deploy in Karachi with orders to shoot-to-kill after at least 65 people were killed and 150 were injured in four days of political violence.

The unrest has been blamed on loyalists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the dominant local party that represents Pakistanis who migrated from India, and the Awami National Party of Pashtuns from the northwest.

The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan voiced concern about escalating instability in the city, whose Arabian Sea port is used by the United States to ship supplies to the 150,000 foreign troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The violence is one of the worst this year in Karachi, a city that has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian, and political tensions.

More than 34 people died on June 7 when gunmen went on shooting sprees in several neighborhoods.

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan_security_orders_shoot_on_sight_in_karachi/24259311.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.