KARACHI – Pakistani authorities on Thursday said unidentified gunmen killed five people including the head of a hardline religious organisation in two separate shooting incidents in Karachi.

Both attacks were "sectarian killings" said a senior official for the southern province of Sindh. The port city of Karachi, Pakistan's economic hub, is the capital of Sindh.

"Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles attacked a car in (eastern) Gulzar-e-Hijri neighbourhood of Karachi late Thursday night and killed Mufti Saeed Jalalpuri and three of his companions," provincial government spokesman Jameel Soomro told AFP.

Jalalpuri was head of Tanzeem Khatme-e-Nabuwwat, an organisation staunchly opposed to the Ahmadi community. The Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in 1974 by Pakistan for their belief that their founder was a prophet.

In an earlier incident, unidentified gunmen on motorcycles similarly attacked the car of Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, city head of the banned Sunni Muslim sectarian group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, killing his son and injuring him and three others.

Soomro said it was not clear who was responsible for the shootings but said "both incidents are sectarian killings". Police were investigating, he added.