02 February 2017•Update: 02 February 2017
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
One of Pakistan’s most wanted gangsters was killed along with his two accomplices in an alleged clash with paramilitary forces in the southern port city of Karachi Thursday, officials said.
Baba Ladla, whose real name was reportedly Noor Mohammad, was gunned down in Lyari district, south of Karachi in a supposed early morning clash with Pakistan Rangers, a spokesman for the force said in a statement.
-- which means the favorite one in Urdu -- was allegedly involved in over 100 murders, apart from numerous cases of kidnapping for ransom, and extortion in Karachi, the statement said.
He carried a head money of 3.5 million rupees (around $33,000).
While authorities claimed the gangster was killed in an exchange of fire, the exact circumstances of his death could not be independently verified. Security forces in the country have often been accused of bumping off suspects in extra-judicial killings instead of presenting them before a court of law and following the due process.
This is not the first time reports have emerged about death.
In August 2015, it was reported the gangster was killed in an exchange of fire with Iranian border security forces near the Pakistan border. However, security officials later denied receiving any such information from Iranian authorities.
Also in May 2014, reports said was killed by Iranian border guards at a border crossing point near the Iranian city of Chabahar.
Karachi, the country's most populous and the commercial capital, has been plagued with gang wars, and political and sectarian violence for decades.
In the last few years, security forces have carried out several raids and search operations in Lyari as part of an operation in the city to put an end to gang warfare. Since 2013, they have arrested many suspected gangsters, drug dealers and hit men.
