Vice-principal of Karachi college shot, wounded

Debra Lobo, vice principal of Jinnah Medical and Dental College’s student affairs wing, was attacked by armed miscreants near Shaheed-e-Millat Road.

She was immediately rushed to hospital in a critical state. But her condition was later termed ‘out of danger’.

Sources said attackers waylaid the lady, fired only single bullet and fled. Police said four attackers targeted the lady on two vehicles. They told that further investigation was underway.

AFP adds: The victim, in a stable condition after being shot once in the head and once in the arm, was identified by police as Debra Lobo, a member of faculty at the city’s Jinnah Medical and Dental College.

“Lobo was on her way to the college when her car came under attack by two armed assailants riding on a motorbike on Shaheed-e-Millat Road in the eastern part of the city,” a police official told AFP requesting anonymity.

The incident was confirmed by senior police official Pir Mohammad Shah, who said she was a US national. According to the website of the college, Lobo is an Associate Professor of Community Health Science.

The US embassy has not confirmed the identity or nationality of the victim.

“We’ve seen press reports and are monitoring and looking into the reports,” a spokesperson told AFP.

Shah said messages in English and Urdu were dropped at the scene saying the attack was carried out by the “Lions of Daulah Al-Islamiyyah”, using the Arabic name for the Islamic State group (IS) which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and the Middle East.

The leaflets, seen by AFP, are plain printed text documents with no IS emblems or insignia and vow more attacks on Americans.

“We shall lie in wait until we ambush you and kill you wherever you may be until we confine and besiege you in America and then God willing, WE WILL BURN AMERICA!!!” the leaflet, seen by AFP, says.

There have been concerns about the IS group tapping support in Pakistan, a country awash with dozens of militant groups.