Saudi diplomat shot dead in Karachi

KARACHI: A Saudi diplomat was shot dead in a drive-by shooting near the consulate in Karachi on Monday, the second attack on Saudi interests in Pakistan’s biggest city in less than a week, officials said.
An official from the media section of the Saudi embassy identified the man as a Saudi diplomat. Another official from the embassy earlier identified him as a security official working for the consulate in Karachi.
Pakistani police in Karachi told AFP that the Saudi had been driving in a vehicle with diplomatic plates when two motorcycle riders opened fire at a crossroads in the city’s upmarket Defence neighbourhood.
“The consulate employee died of multiple bullet wounds on the spot,” said Fayaaz Leghari, the police chief of southern province Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.
“The attackers fled on the motorbike,” he added.
Provincial home ministry official Sharfuddin Memon identified the dead man as a junior officer at the consulate.
“We are investigating if it was linked to the Abbottabad operation or was an isolated incident,” he said in reference to the killing by US Navy SEALs of the Saudi-born al-Qaeda mastermind in the garrison city of Abbottabad on May 2.
Last Wednesday, drive-by assailants threw two grenades at the consulate in Karachi in what officials said could have been reaction to bin Laden’s death.