Many more die in Karachi violence

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 21 (UPI) -- Dozens of people have been killed in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, which has been reeling under renewed factional and ethnic violence, authorities said.

Many of the killings, which began Wednesday, resulted from drive-by shootings by armed motorcyclists.

Pakistan's News International put the latest death toll at 37 with eight more deaths reported Thursday.

The report said the city remained tense Friday and vehicles were torched in many areas. Shops in major markets and gasoline stations were closed.

Karachi is the capital of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's home province of Sindh.

Provincial Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza said law enforcement agencies have been directed to increase security at the city's entry and exit points and have been given more powers to make arrests and conduct raids, the Daily Times reported.

Karachi has been hit in the past by sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

In the latest incidents in Karachi, the Times of India reported, the people killed included activists of the ANP (the Awami National Party), a member of the ruling coalition, and the MQM (the Muttahida Qaumi Movement).

The MQM draws its support from the Mohajirs, Urdu-speaking people who originally came from India after the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. The ANP is supported by the city's ethnic Pashtuns from the north.

In February, similar violence resulting from political and ethnic rivalry, killed about two dozen people. Last December, an attack on a Shiite religious procession killed 43 people.