KARACHI, Sept 23: A policeman was killed in violence in a Malir locality following the custodial death of a suspect whom the police described as a gangster as well as a member of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army in the early hours of Monday.

The death of suspect Naveed Baloch in police custody late Sunday night triggered a violent protest in the area, where relatives and area residents blocked the National Highway and attacked the Malir City police station in the early hours of Monday.

According to area DSP Rao Mohammed Iqbal, the Malir City police detained suspect Baloch for allegedly possessing narcotics.

His health deteriorated in the police lock-up and he was being taken for treatment to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre when he died, he added.

As the news of his death reached the area, armed men surrounded the police station and threw a grenade on a parked police mobile van. The van driver, Farman Ali, 35, drove the mobile to some distance as he feared that the attackers might torch it. However, two armed men riding a motorcycle chased and killed him, the police said.

The victim, who hailed from Swat, was father of five.

Malir City SHO Ali Hasan Shaikh said that a policeman, Asghar, lost his one eye in the attack.

He said seven passers-by were hurt and the attackers also wounded an elder of the area, identified as Baba Ilyas, who tried to control the situation.

The area SHO said that the suspect Baloch was allegedly involved in murder, extortion and narcotics cases.

He claimed that he was a gangster and associated with the banned BLA.

Heavy contingents of the police reached the scene and conducted a targeted operation in several localities following the incident and detained 31 suspects, said SSP-Malir Nasir Aftab.

A post-mortem examination of suspect Baloch was carried out at the Civil Hospital Karachi in the presence of a judicial magistrate.

Hospital sources said that his death was ‘unnatural’.

They said that the body bore marks of torture.

However, the cause of death was reserved till the report of the chemical examination of viscera.