KARACHI: Usually before a gun battle in Lyari an announcement is made through area mosques seeking closure of shops or asking residents to stay indoors, but on Wednesday there was no such announcement before a gun and grenade attack in the crowded Jhatpat Market in Chakiwara No 2 because gangsters were avenging the death of one of their own accomplices, residents told Dawn.

Police said that Sheeraz Zikri, a brother of Ghaffar Zikri who leads one of the several gangs in Lyari, was killed during a joint targeted operation by the law-enforcement agencies late Tuesday night.

Just hours later the Jhatpat Market, known for selling household items and accessories for women, was attacked at around 11am on Wednesday, instantly injuring dozens, many of whom eventually succumbed to their injuries.

The bomb attack brought to the fore what they had been silently enduring for the past few months, the residents complained.

Minutes before the attack in the market, seven-year-old Amir Hussain was playing in a street, opposite the market, while Altaf Hussain was standing beside his fruit cart. Right next to him, Rehana Ghanchi and her teenage daughter Sabahat were standing in a tailor’s shop.

“The area looked like a warzone,” narrated Rehana, now sitting beside her daughter’s bed at the Civil Hospital Karachi. Hit by shrapnel, Sabahat sustained an injury on her left arm. She said bomb attacks had become a matter of routine in the area. “It’s only because today there were more casualties that most people got to see for the first time what we go through on a daily basis.”

Thirty-year-old Altaf was surrounded by his relatives and brother in Surgical Ward 3. Surviving an injury caused by shrapnel in the chest, he spoke angrily about the continuing violence in the area. “We were visited by one of our MPAs, but what have they done? And what can they possibly do to protect us?”

Beside his bed, seven-year-old Amir was sound asleep with a huge plaster on his left foot. His elder sister, Asma, was understandably shaken. “We have lost count of the number of children who have been killed during this fight. I was scared that he might be one of those who were brought dead to the hospital,” she said, adding that she’s grateful he survived the incident with a minor injury on the back and foot.

Since the attack on the market was widely reported, ambulances made it to the spot in time, otherwise it was difficult to get an ambulance to visit the area during emergencies, the residents said.

After his mother suffered a stroke, a teacher working in the area had to wait for two hours to convince an ambulance driver to come to Lyari. “Eventually we walked towards Merewether Tower from where we got an ambulance. She was pronounced dead as soon as we reached the hospital,” said a primary schoolteacher, requesting not to be named.

While back in Chakiwara No 2, the residents said that the empty streets still reverberated with gunfire in the evening. Requesting anonymity, a resident told Dawn over the phone that the apartments and colonies near Chakiwara were slowly turning deserted, as people were fleeing their homes. But, he added, many homes were taken over by gang members.

At present, the fight between gangsters is raging on in Kalri, Gul Mohammad Lane, Chakiwara, Rangiwara, Nawa Lane, Afshani Gali, Kalakot and Rexar Lane, among others. Usually before armed clashes announcements were made through local mosques asking traders to shut their shops and residents to stay indoors, the residents told Dawn. “But today they were avenging the death of one of their own, that’s why no announcements were made,” said Abid Ali, a teacher and resident of Chakiwara.

The Jhatpat Market attack was aimed at the rival gang members controlling the area, a resident told Dawn over the phone. “But minutes before the attack, gunmen, who usually sit around the market to collect extortion money, left quickly,” the resident added.

Supported by political parties, the gangs are leaderless at the moment, the residents said. But with the death of Ghaffar Zikri’s brother, Sheeraz Zikri, during a joint targeted operation by the law-enforcement agencies, the residents feared the violence in the area would only escalate in the coming days.