KARACHI, Sept 14 Tension and panic gripped Shah Faisal Colony following a clash between two groups that left at least 17 people wounded in incidents of sporadic firing, witnesses and police said.

They said that five vehicles, 10 shops, two roadside tea stalls, and 20 stalls of fruit and vegetables were put on fire following the clash.

The witnesses said that trouble started in the afternoon when a group of a political party returned to the locality with the party workers who had allegedly been kidnapped and tortured by the rivals three days ago.

They said that the group opened fire when they saw the rivals, who also returned fire.

Later, the police said that the armed groups took to the streets and resorted to heavy firing in the locality. They said at least 17 people were shot and wounded in sporadic firing in different parts of the vicinity.

The police said that two minibuses of the route Y-2 and a coaster were set on fire at Shah Faisal Colony No 4.

They said that six carpet shops and a tea stall were set on fire near Colony Gate and three shops were torched at the Cantt Bazaar on Drigh Road.

They said a shop, a roadside restaurant and 20 roadside stalls were set on fire in Shah Faisal Colony.

The police said that a minibus and a taxi were set on fire near Chisti Masjid.

The wounded were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where they were identified as Zain ul Hasan, Danish Ali, Farhan Abbasi, Alamgir Khan, Iftikhar Mohammedi, Ala Uddin, Sana Ullah, Mohammed Ijaz, Pervaiz, Imam Raza, Rehan, Arif, Amir Shah, Hussain and Majid.

The witnesses said that the whole vicinity echoed with heavy gunfire as the shopkeepers pulled down the shutters and the vehicular traffic disappeared from the streets.

The police said that heavy contingents of police and Rangers were patrolling the affected parts of the locality.