Karachi: One person was killed when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle fired at the Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) van of “Samaa” television channel on February 22, in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan.The person killed was twenty year old Taimoor Abbas who was working as an Assistant on the DSNG van.

The DSNG van of Samaa channel with four staffers had gone to cover an earlier grenade assault on Police vehicle. Farhan Mallik, Director News of Samaa told PPF that Abbas was hit on neck and chest, while the engineer, cameraman and driver remained unhurt. Abbas was rushed to the nearby Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Malik said the driver speed up vehicle from the scene otherwise losses would have been higher. He added that attackers targeted Samaa team to prevent them from their duty but the channel will be moving ahead with greater determination.

Police have registered First Information Report (FIR) number 288/2017 against unknown suspects on February 13.The Inspector General of Police Sindh, A.D. Khawaja constituted two committees on the instructions of Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah to investigate terrorist attacks on Samaa TV DSNG and a police armored van in Karachi.

The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the responsibility for the attack. In a statement, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani said the media was not impartial and that they had given several warnings to them.

The attack has been widely condemned including the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), The Pakistan Federal Union Journalists and Karachi Union of Journalists.