The Pakistan government says its security operation in Sindh province will be impartial and won't involve the regular army.

Speaking in the provincial capital, Karachi, the information minister, Mushahid Hussain, denied that anyparticular political group had been targetted.

But a senior leader of the Muttaheda Quami Movement, or MQM, said more than one hundred MQM supporters had been arrested since Friday night, when direct governor's rule was imposed.

Police said one person was killed and several injured in an outbreak of shooting in eastern Karachi.