KARACHI, Oct 10: Three people were killed and five others wounded on Wednesday in Lyari as rival gangsters fought pitched battles in the narrow lanes, police and witnesses said.

The neighbourhoods of Baghdadi, Chakiwara and Kalakot had been echoing with intermittent gunfire since Tuesday night when gangsters shot dead a 22-year-old man near Ali Hotel on Fida Hussain Shaikha Road.

Baghdadi police said gunmen belonging to the Rahman Dakait gang resorted to firing into the air at a wedding.

They said the gangsters, headed by Shiraz, alias Robert, shot dead Rafique when he asked them to refrain from firing guns.

Area people said tension and panic gripped the entire neighbourhood following the killing of Rafique. Later in the morning, they said, Shiraz was shot dead in an exchange of fire between rival gangsters in Lane 5, near Madina Bakery on Shah Latif Bhitai Road in Baghdadi.

Area people said the entire vicinity wore a deserted look as the shopkeepers were forced to put up the shutters and traffic disappeared from the streets amid an intermittent rattle of gunfire.

In the afternoon, another man was killed and five others were wounded when gangsters, reportedly belonging to Shiraz, opened fire on the participants of Rafique’s funeral procession.

The victims were taken to the Civil Hospital, where the dead was identified as Abdur Razzak, and the injured as Shahnawaz, Mohammed Hussain, Jahangir, Ayub and Imran.

Police said they had intensified patrolling in the vicinity.

Area people, however, claimed that police were not seen in the troubled parts throughout the day.