Fifty-year-old Fahim Riaz Siddiqi and 45-year-old Saleem Bhatti, both associated with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), were returning home in a car from work a little after 8pm when they were attacked on a road linking Abyssinia Line with Sharea Faisal near the FTC flyover, police said.

While the police said they had not found any eyewitness who could share information about the deadly assault, they believed the job was executed by armed men riding a motorbike as was seen in most targeted killings.

“The car came under intense firing as it was about to appear on Sharea Faisal and went out of the driver’s control,” said a senior police official.

Subsequently, the car hit a bicycle before ramming into a pillar of the flyover, he said, adding that two young riders sustained injuries in the accident.

The attackers appeared to be waiting for the lawyers under the bridge which usually remained dark at night, the official said. However, he added, the police could not find any eyewitness who could tell about the number of attackers and their appearance.

The firing was so intense that it left both lawyers dead on the spot, the police said. The bodies were later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Bar Association and Sindh Bar Council announced a boycott of court proceedings on Saturday. Both bodies also announced that they would stage protest demonstrations in lower courts against the targeted killing of lawyers.