KARACHI, March 8: Police launched a siege and search operation in the gang-war-ridden parts of Lyari on Thursday as gangsters set ablaze the house of a rival in the vicinity.

Eye-witnesses said a group belonging to the Rehman Dakait gang attacked the house of Shah Zeb, a member of the Arshad Pappu gang, in Baghdadi a little after noon and put it on fire.

A heavy contingent of police raided the hideouts of gangsters in several parts of Baghdadi, Chakiwara and Kalakot and set up pickets in the narrow lanes of the vicinity.

TPO Lyari Pir Fareed Jan told Dawn that at least seven gangsters, four belonging to Rehman Dakait group and three to Arshad Pappu group, were arrested during the raids. “The police have also seized weapons and a sizeable quantity of narcotics from them”, he added.

The TPO said the arrested gangsters included three members of Arshad Pappu gang who were named in the murder case of a 15-year-old boy.

Dilshad Samoon was killed and his younger brother Zohaib was wounded when armed men opened fire on them on Wednesday. A two-and-half-year-old girl was wounded on Tuesday in a hand-grenade blast in Kalakot and an eight-year-old boy was killed late on Monday night in Chakiwara in a hand-grenade blast.

Tension gripped the entire vicinity after the shooting incidents and police and rangers intensified patrolling in the sensitive areas.

Residents of the affected areas said that the police entered the narrow lanes of the vicinity and got the power supply to the hideouts of the criminals disconnected. They said the police also removed the heavy curtains from certain lanes housing drug dens.