KARACHI, April 30: At least six more people were gunned down and 35 others wounded on Monday as a stand-off between police and heavily armed gangsters in Lyari entered a fourth day.
Five vehicles were set on fire in different parts of the city in what police described as an attempt by the gangsters to divert attention of the law-enforcers from the ongoing operation in Lyari.
During the day, more than a dozen grenade and rocket attacks in the Kalakot, Nawalane, Hingorabad and Lea Market areas left a number of people wounded and dead. The wounded included two police officials.
In early morning gun and arson attacks, three people were killed and two buses were destroyed in Shershah. The attacks were carried out near a hotel and a bus stop.
A young man was shot dead in Nayabad within the remit of the Baghdadi police station on Monday night.
The victim was identified as 20-year-old Nasir, the police said, adding that his affiliation to any gang had not been ascertained yet.
Earlier, another young man was found shot dead in the Hingorabad area of Agra Taj Colony. The body was trussed up and bore a gunshot wound to the head. The victim was believed to have been kidnapped a few days ago, the police said.
In the same colony, at least eight people were wounded when some motorbike riders lobbed hand grenades at a commercial area. One of the victims, a 60-year-old man, later died during treatment at the Civil Hospital.
Gangsters also hurled hand grenades at a hotel in the Lea Market area, leaving more than half a dozen people wounded.
Sources in the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said that some injured people had been shifted there from Lyari. They were being provided treatment, they added.
Two police constables, Nayyer Abbas and Sardar Khan, were also wounded in the attacks.
More than a dozen rocket and grenades were fired in Kalakot, Nawalane, and Hingorabad within the remit of the Kalri police station.
Suspected gangsters also set fire to an office of the Pakistan People’s Party in the Kalakot area and a police post in the Garden area.
The heavily armed men lobbed grenades and also fired a rocket in Kamil Gali within the remit of the Baghdadi police station and other areas, including Singulane and Bakra Piri.
While police and gangsters continued to fight pitched battles in the narrow streets of Lyari, many people fled homes and staged a rally against the crackdown. “They were threatened by gangsters to move out and stage protests against the police operation,” said Sindh IG Mushtaq Shah.
With the support of FC personnel, the CID and local police are taking part in the Lyari operation to clear the area from gangsters. Police said many of them had managed to escape to other parts of the city.
The special investigation unit of police conducted a raid in Ilyas Goth, C-1 Area of Liaquatabad and arrested nine suspected gangsters affiliated with the Ahmed Ali Brohi gang. The police claimed to have seized two Kalashnikovs, a shotgun, a repeater, six pistols and two hand grenades.
While markets in those areas of Lyari where the operation was being conducted had already been closed for the past few days, the protesters, mainly comprising residents, forced traders in Kharadar and Jodia Bazaar to pull down shutters.
They marched to the Jinnah bridge and chanted slogans seeking an immediate end to the operation.
At least five vehicles were set on fire in different parts of the city in arson attacks what police described as an attempt by gangsters to divert the attention of the police from the operation.
The police said two vehicles were set ablaze in Shershah, a bus was torched on Hub River Road, a vehicle was set on fire in Malir and another bus was set ablaze in Ibrahim Hyderi.
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