KARACHI, Dec 1: A 12-year-old boy died in New Karachi on Sunday night. Eyewitness account and police’s version on the circumstances of the boy’s death differed with each other.

The boy was killed in an alleged exchange of fire between police and unidentified men in New Karachi.

Police claimed that a police mobile of New Karachi police station was patrolling the area, and when it reached sector 5-J, a shanty town, police lit a torch as they suspected some illegal activity near them.

A Charade car opened fire at the police party and sped away. Police returned the fire at the fleeing vehicle, the SHO New Karachi, Toufique Zahid, claimed.

“The boy was killed by the firing of the suspects, that is, when they opened fire at the police party,” the SHO claimed.

Residents, however, claimed otherwise, saying that fire was opened simultaneously. They said that the boy received multiple bullet wounds in a hail of bullets as both the sides fired indiscriminately.

“The suspects, as usual, made a successful escape. Police did not try to chase the suspects in order to apprehend them,” witnesses said.

The body was sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for post-mortem.

The boy had not been identified till our going to press.

A row during a cricket game claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy in Pirabad.

Police said a 40-year-old man killed Rizwan, aged 16, with a sharp-edged weapon when boys were playing cricket with his friends near Aqsa Mosque in Frontier Colony.