Karachi: At least 44 people have been killed in the violent riots and protests that erupted in the southern Sindh province after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi.

According to rough figures, some 44 people were killed in various parts of the province including two incidents in Karachi and Khairpur where miscreants burnt a factory and bank in which a total of 13 people suffocated to death, Brigadier (retd) Gholam Mohtaram told PTI on Saturday.

"Overall the situation on Saturday has been under more control since the deployment of the army in some parts of the province and increased patrolling by paramilitary troops," he said.

He said that in the protests and violence since Thursday night, some 500 vehicles and over 100 banks had been destroyed or damaged in the province.

However, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema in Islamabad put the figure of those killed in the riots at 38.

Mohtaram said due to the protests and violence a number of railway stations had been attacked and damaged affecting the operations of Pakistan railways.

"We are hoping that with beefed up security, the situation will normalise in the next few days," he said.

That criminals and miscreants have no political or religious affiliations became clear on Friday when number of mourners who had gone to attend the funeral of slain former Bhutto had their vehicles and belongings looted while returning home.

A security official who didn't want to be named said that they had received reports about some criminal elements snatching vehicles and robbing its inmates of mobiles, cash and other valuables.

"They took advantage of the bad road tracks that link the city of Larkana with Garhi Khuda Baksh where Benazir was buried in the ancestral graveyard of the Bhutto family," Mohtaram said.

He said since the funeral ended around sunset a number of people who had gone to Garhi Khuda Baskh from Larkana and other parts of the province including Karachi to attend the funeral in their own vehicles decided to return home the same day.

"It was on their way back that they were looted and vehicles snatched," he added.

"It just shows that criminals and miscreants have played a big role in the rioting and looting that has taken place since Thursday in the province."

Source : PTI