At least 92 people have been killed in the last five days in a fresh wave of ethnic strife and gang wars in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi, with nine more deaths reported on Monday.
According to figures available with the police and rescue officials, 198 people have been killed in the city this month until Sunday with 90 kidnapping cases also reported and 80 vehicles torched in the spree of violence to hit different parts of the city.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an NGO, says the killings in July and August are the worst criminal and ethnic violence to hit Pakistan's biggest city for the last 16 years.
While at least 92 people were killed, around 100 have been wounded in the last five days with several cases of kidnapping on ethnic basis being reported from different parts of Karachi.
Adding a new dimension to the violence, the last five days have seen tortured and disfigured bodies being dumped in gunny bags ground at several places in the city.
Armed gunmen stormed into the office of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board on Monday morning and shot dead four persons and injured three others as the provincial government and law enforcement agencies struggled to contain the situation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who flew in to the city, chaired a meeting of the Sindh provincial cabinet.