“Ali Madad and Shabbir Chhotu, leading their respective groups engaged in the armed clash, are well known for their stakes in real estate in the area and had been at loggerheads for several months,” said an official at the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station.

“On Friday, the groups gathered at a place in Hussain Hazara Goth, Block 4, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, a little after sunset to settle their old property disputes but their talks turned into an armed clash. Ali Madad, 35, sustained bullet wounds and died on the spot. Shabbir Chhotu also received bullet wounds but he managed to escape from the scene with his men,” he said.

Stray bullets hit a five-year-old girl, Mehak, and an unidentified man in his early 40s, both residents of the same area.

Firing into the air by associates of Ali Madad soon after the clash sowed panic in the area and forced shopkeepers to pull down the shutters. The police and Rangers personnel moved in to bring the situation under control.

“The body and the wounded have been shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities, which will be followed by the registration of an FIR,” said the official. “There has been no arrest as yet and we were busy restoring peace to the area. Now when the situation has been brought under control, we hope to move forward.”

Four die in different incidents

Four more people lost their lives in other incidents of firing in the city on Friday, police said.

In Baldia Town, an aged man was gunned down by an unknown attacker outside his home. The police and the family of the deceased, 65-year-old Shah Alam, appeared clueless about the reason behind his murder.

“According to the witnesses, two men riding a bike stopped on the corner of the street in which Shah Alam's home is situated in Tauheed Mohalla,” said an official of the Mochko police station. “One of the men entered the street, came close to the old man and fired a single shot from pointblank range. Both the bike riders fled after the attack.”

He said though the incident seemed to be a result of personal enmity, the victim's family ruled out such a possibility. The police registered an FIR (178/2010) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against unknown persons on the complaint of the victim's son, Samiuddin.

In another incident, the police found the bullet-riddled body of a young man in Machhar Colony. The victim was later recognised by people as a resident of the same locality.

The police said that the body was spotted by some people lying near Saddam Chowk. They informed the police who, after due formalities, shifted the victim to the Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth for want of identification.

“By the evening, a man, Jehangir, reported that his younger brother had been missing since Thursday evening,” said an official at the Docks police station. “He identified the victim as his 25-year-old brother, Alamgir alias Faisal,” the police said, adding that the victim worked as a labourer at the Karachi Fish Harbour.

The police registered an FIR (50/2010) under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC on complaint of Jehangir against unknown persons.

The Sir Syed Township police in New Karachi area arrested a person who allegedly shot dead one of his friends in the Bilal Colony area.

The police said the suspect, Parial Chandio, was arrested about an hour after a firing incident in Bilal Colony area that left 35-year-old Sikandar Chandio dead outside his home.

“After gathering facts about the incident, the police raided some places and arrested Parial Chandio with a 30-bore pistol believed to be used in the murder. We are looking for his other associates who are at large,” said Inspector Tariq Imran, SHO of the Sir Syed Township police station. “The victim and the suspects belong to the same clan and were friends. At the same time, they all have criminal records and are booked in a number of cases. The cases pertained to the crimes mainly committed in the interior of Sindh.”

The SHO said that recently Parial Chandio and his associates came to know that Sikandar Chandio had helped the Dadu police capture a key member of the gang. “They killed him to avenge the arrest of their colleague,” he said, adding “We have registered an FIR (19/2010) under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC against Parial and his four associates on the complaint of the victim's younger brother, Fida Hussain Chandio.”

In Kharadar, a 23-year-old man was gunned down and the police believed the murder was a result of some personal enmity. They said the victim, identified as Sameer Ilyas, was a resident of the same area and was seen with his close friends before he was killed.

“We came to know about the incident from the Civil Hospital Karachi, where his body was brought,” said an official at the Kharadar police station. “The victim's family is in grief but appeared unaware of his enmity with anyone. However, we suspect they are trying to conceal facts from us to avoid legal formalities,” he said.