Eight killed in Karachi evening shootout
03:23 p.m Aug 12, 1998 Eastern

KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Gunmen sprayed bullets on people in a park in Pakistan's violence-plagued port city of Karachi on Wednesday, killing at least eight in apparently the deadliest ethnic violence in recent weeks, doctors said.

Doctors at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said they wrere also also treated seven people for injuries after the shooting in the North Nazimabad area of Karachi's Central district.

The victims were followers of the ethnic Muthida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is locked in a bloody feud with a breakaway faction, MQM sources said.

Police said the unidentified gunmen drove up to a park and fired automatic weapons before fleeing.

The official APP news agency quoted witnesses as saying a woman was seated beside the driver of the car while occupants in the back seat opened fire.

Local officials estimate some 700 people have been killed in ethnic and political violence in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub, so far this year.