KARACHI, June 28: Tension continued to grip the Pak Colony area for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as armed men roamed freely in the thickly populated locality and exchanged gunfire with their rivals, officials and witnesses said.

The law-enforcers, however, remained at a distance as there was no access to the strife-hit pockets of the locality.

They said that the armed clash that triggered between two rival groups on Monday continued on Tuesday and at least three people were wounded in the gunfire.

“There is an armed clash reported in some parts of the area but there are no causalities,” said DSP Qaiser Ali Shah, the area's supervisory police officer (SPO).

“Rexer Line, Gutter Baghicha and Old Golimar remained tense but no major incident was reported in any other part of the Pak Colony.”

Residents, however, said that they had to stay indoors since Monday afternoon when violence broke out in the locality, while the businesses in the neighbourhood remained completely closed for the second consecutive day. They alleged that the police and the Rangers did nothing to stop the gun battle between the gangs.

A police official conceded that intense firing and a lack of required strength had become a major hurdle in getting access to the disturbed parts of the area.

“Two groups involved in the drugs and arms trade are engaged in the gunfight,” he said. “They originally operated in the trans-Lyari area. The police are unable to access the affected areas. Factual position is that the police have no writ in those particular pockets.”

An official at the Civil Hospital Karachi said that the health facility had received three persons from Pak Colony with sustained bullet wounds.

“They have been identified as Rehan, Junaid and Azam Baloch. They don't have any serious injuries though one of them underwent through a surgery,” he added.