"The corpse count has risen to 20 with eight more assassinations overnight in different areas of Bloody Karachi," provincial home ministry front man Sharfuddin Memon told AFP.
The violence erupted
Monday. The government in Sindh province said it had stepped up police and paramilitary patrols in the troubled western and central neighbourhoods to avert further killings.Memon gave no specific reason for the renewed violence in Bloody Karachi but analysts believe conflicting interests of political forces and poor governance trigger routine flare-ups.
"Bloody Karachi is a big city where crime and corruption is rampant and assassinations is convenient cover for criminal mafia to continue their activities," analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP.
"While political parties fight to retain their clout in the city, criminal gangs, involved in organised crimes take advantage of the situation."
In 2010, political violence in Bloody Karachi was dominated by flare-ups in August after a politician from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was rubbed out and in October on the eve of the election for his successor.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistain said 748 people -- 447 political activists and the rest civilians -- were killed in targeted shootings in the city last year. Targeted killings in 2009 claimed 272 lives.