APTOPIX Pakistan

KARACHI: Fighting continued into the night on Tuesday as more police contingents were called in to defuse the mounting insurgency by the criminals at the end of fifth consecutive day of the “Grand Operation” in Lyari, DawnNews reported.

According to police, the authorities have decided to block the entry points into the area to stop weapon supply.

They also have decided to call in expert snipers from the police training centre who will be placed in provisional check posts on rooftops which are under the police’s control.

Despite several claims by police officials, security forces in Lyari have not been able to progress farther than Cheel Chowk, as the ‘Grand Operation’ continued on fifth day.

Clashes between law-enforcement agencies and heavily armed criminals continued on Tuesday, as miscreants resorted to the use of hand-grenades and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) in addition to using sophisticated automatic weapons against security forces.

Authorities had installed jammers on Monday night to block cellular access in the area. The move was viewed as a failure as the criminals were reported to be using walkie-talkies to communicate with each other.

It was disclosed that the criminals are in possession of more than a hundred sets of walkie-talkies.

In reports on Tuesday, a policeman identified as Tufail was killed during clashes near Cheel Chowk, while two more people were killed when police came under heavy gunfire and rocket attacks while progressing deeper into the areas near Cheel Chowk and Baghdadi colony.

Ten people were injured when a mini rocket propelled grenade landed on the upper story of a hotel in Lea Market. Police shifted the injured to a near-by hospital for treatment.

During the past four days, more than 20 people, as well as six security personnel, have lost their lives in the aggressive operation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Lyari residents continued to flee the fighting as they relocate from the violence-ridden area.

At the entry and exit points of Lyari , people were seen waiting in their cars for their relatives, desperate to flee the fighting in one of the oldest localities in the port city of Karachi.

Approximately 150 families from neighbourhoods affected by the operation –including Agra Taj Colony, Afshani Gali, Shah Abdul Latif Road, Ghas Mandi, Gul Mohammad Lane, Aath Chowk, Cheel Chowk, and other parts of Lyari – were reported to have relocated to safer parts of the city the previous day.