KARACHI, April 7: Tension gripped parts of Lyari on Saturday after the killings of notorious gang leader Shahzeb and his three accomplices early in the morning. Shopkeepers pulled down their shatters and heads of schools also closed their institutes fearing violent reaction from other members of the gang operating in Shah Baig Lane and Baghdadi areas. Some street urchins tried to block the roads but fled when police reached there. Parents were seen running towards schools to bring back their children.

Scores of youths have been killed in the so-called Lyari gang war. A leader of one of the gangs had been imprisoned while another escaped mysteriously from police custody.

Social workers of the area regretted that youths were being involved in criminal activities due to absence of civic amenities and poverty in Lyari. They were being crushed either by the gangs operating in the area or by the police, they said.

Describing poverty the root-cause of lawlessness, some senior social workers asked the authorities to take concrete steps for socio-economic prosperity of local people.