'Knife attacker' causes panic in Karachi

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Women in Karachi are bracing themselves in fear of knife attacks, after a series of bizarre assaults in Pakistan’s largest city stirred panic and puzzled law enforcement agencies.

A knife attacker has reportedly been roaming in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area of the southern port city. Police are investigating the attacks.

The attacker has injured at least six women, police said, while some reports in the local media put the number of his female victims at nine. The youngest of which is a 12-year-old girl.

The victims told police that they were attacked by a lone "knife-wielding" biker.

The most of them had minor injuries, with one reported to have gotten stitches.

Police are hunting the man and announced a cash reward of half-a-million Pakistani rupees (4,750 US dollars) for any information that may lead to his arrest.

Six suspects were arrested on Monday, but the identity and motive of the assailant remains unknown, according to local media outlets.

There may be plenty of question marks about the man and his motivation but the authorities ruled out the possibility of any group or gang behind the attacks, saying that the investigation so far points towards a single person, Pakistan's English-language daily DAWN has reported.

Police have been deployed to hunt the attacker. /Reuters Photo

“The attacker appears to be unstable,” the paper quoted Karachi East-Zone Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sultan Ali Khowaja as saying.

Nothing could be said about the attacker's belief system, he said, adding that the police have not invoked any terror charges as no sign pointing towards political or religious motives could be found.

The man used a scalpel which is employed in surgical procedures, the DIG stated.

The police are also collecting records of paramedics from hospitals in the area while interrogating residents of the area. The only description of the man responsible so far is that he was wearing a helmet and riding a motorcycle.

The police launched a manhunt and an investigation into the motivation and identity of the attacker, who appears to be still at large.

DIG said in a statement on Monday that police officials, along with decoy teams, have been deployed at different locations. No incidents have been reported since Sept 28, the statement added.

Karachi women, it appears, are not the first victims of this phenomenon. A man carried out a campaign of assaults against randomly-chosen women in Glasgow, Scotland’s Evening Times newspaper reported last month.

Thomas Archer punched, kicked and spat on six women he passed during three days of attacks, the paper said, in a report published on its website on September 17.

The 36-year-old was jailed for four months after Glasgow Sheriff Court heard he was a danger to the public.