Troops Patrol Karachi in Bid to Quell Riots

Thousands of soldiers and police blanketed the western and central sections of Karachi on Friday, allowing no one on the street after five days of rioting killed at least 44 people and injured more than 250.

The martial-law government of President Zia ul-Haq said it controlled the city Friday after bitter ethnic clashes the day before, but minor incidents, including some fighting with security forces, were reported.

Doctors at Karachi’s central hospitals said Friday night that the bodies of 22 people killed Thursday and overnight had been brought in, along with scores of wounded. One doctor said many victims had been stabbed and hacked to death with knives and axes.

Killed by Bus

Doctors and local news media gave the casualty count as at least 44 dead and more than 250 hurt since rioting began Monday. It started after two young girls were killed by a bus that had been racing with another bus in a city street.

Fighting Thursday and early Friday was between rival ethnic groups. People grappled in the streets with knives and daggers and set fire to homes and businesses.

There was another ethnic clash Friday morning when members of a Pushtun tribe from northern Pakistan battled local people. Pushtuns dominate the city’s bus services as owners and drivers, and people blamed them for Monday’s incident and what they considered the many accidents involving buses.

Karachi’s economy was crippled by the rioting and the round-the-clock curfew authorities have imposed in many areas since Tuesday. The curfew kept tens of thousands of workers home, and the near-collapse of the city bus system meant even more workers living in non-curfew areas could not get to work. Karachi, with 7 million people, is Pakistan’s biggest city.