KARACHI, Dec 13: At least four people, including a private television channel director, were killed in what police described as an exchange of fire between armed groups in Lyari on Tuesday.

The killings have been carried out in Lyari weeks after Rangers claimed to have conducted ‘targeted operations’ which led to the discovery of ‘torture cells’ and a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the area.

The fresh armed clash broke out between the defunct People’s Amn Committee and Kutchhi Rabita Committee (KRC) over some petty issue, according to a senior police officer of the district south.

Intense firing throughout the night caused tension in the city’s oldest neigbourhood.

A KRC spokesman, Abdul Karim, claimed that between eight and 12 young men had been kidnapped by their opponents. “They kidnapped our youths from their houses during the night.”

He said the armed gangs were brandishing latest weaponry in the area but law-enforcement officials had not yet moved to control the situation.

Abdul Rehman Hingoro, director programmes of ARY’s QTV channel, was returning home from work early Tuesday morning when he was hit by a stray bullet, a colleague of the deceased told Dawn.

He said that Rangers were present in the area but they had not conducted any serious operation to effectively deal with the situation.

A former figurehead of the defunct People’s Amn Committee and former district south president of the Pakistan People’s Party, Zafar Baloch, said that the killings seemed a part of a pre-planned plot to cause a breakdown of law and order in Lyari. He said two Baloch youths — Illahi Bukhsh aka Alok Gawadari, a footballer, and Momia Baloch aka Jaffar — were kidnapped on the main Hingorabad road and taken to a narrow street where they were killed.

Officials said the two bodies were found at a place near Dua Hotel in the Mauripur area within the remit of the Kalri police station.

Zafar Baloch said the QTV director was later killed. “Why each time a prominent personality is killed in a spate of violence in Lyari?” he questioned.

Police said that another man, Javed Kutchhi, had been kidnapped from his house and his body was later found at the Aath Chowk within the remit of the Baghdadi police station.

Speaking to Dawn, SSP (south) Naeem Ahmed Shaikh said the exchange of fire between the defunct People’s Amn Committee and Kutchhi Rabita Committee resulted in the fresh killings in Lyari.

The KRC declared three-day mourning over the killings and staged a sit-down on Mauripur Road to protest against the overnight killings in Lyari.

The protesters later brought the body of Javed Kutchi in front of the Karachi Press Club to stage a protest demonstration. They said the young man had got recently married.

In the evening, Lyari saw heavy deployment of Rangers personnel and policemen amid reports of an imminent operation in the area.