Police said on Saturday that two suspects said to have been behind the abduction of a five-year-old from Karachi's Defence Phase 8 area had been gunned down during an operation.

On December 6, 2017, Mohammad Abban Ghufran had been kidnapped from DHA Phase 8 near an academic institution while returning from school with his mother. He was later ransomed from his abductors.

"On December 9, 2017, in the early hours, law enforcement agencies, Anti Violent Crime Cell, Citizens Police Liaison Committee [(CPLC)] jointly conducted a raid to arrest the kidnappers," the Chief of CPLC, Zubair Habib, informed in a statement.

"Two kidnappers who were later identified as Zaheer Mirza and Zaki tried to run away and also opened straight fire [at the raiding party]. In return fire, both kidnappers were killed at the spot near Kamran Chowrangi, Gulistan-e-Johar," Habib's statement read.

Habib said police had recovered Rs100,000 of the child's ransom, and the purse and cell phone of the mother of the kidnapped child in the operation.

"Both the kidnappers were killed and the gang was busted," he added in his statement.

Read: Kidnapped in Karachi: A survival guide from the man who's seen it all

Two masked men in a white car had intercepted the vehicle in which the boy and his mother were travelling. After snatching valuables from the woman, they had taken the boy with them forcibly.

Shortly after, the boy’s family had received a call from the kidnappers who demanded a ransom of Rs150 million for his release. After negotiations with the family, the kidnappers had agreed to take Rs300,000.

After receiving the ransom, the kidnappers had left the boy at Askari petrol pump near Jauhar Chowrangi.