KARACHI, April 27: Lyari turned into a battlefield once again on Friday when heavily armed men posed stiff resistance to well-equipped law-enforcement personnel making an attempt to advance into the narrow and deep lanes of a disturbed area for a search crackdown on ‘gangsters’.

Parts of Lyari started reverberating with deafening gunfire sound in the early hours of the day as soon as a strong contingent of police, the Frontier Constabulary and the Crime Investigation Department’s Anti-extremists Cell launched the search operation amid a high degree of tension caused by Thursday’s killing of a key leader of the Pakistan People’s Party’s local chapter in the same area.

The uniformed personnel, along with armed men in civvies, found a battle ready force of youths blocking their way into Cheel Chowk and the areas surrounding Lea Market.

Armed with hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other sophisticated weapons, the force fought a pitched battle with the law-enforcement agencies throughout the day.

Eight people were reported killed and more than two dozen wounded when the guns fell silent late in the evening.

According to the police, the outlaws were supported by “terrorists of the proscribed People’s Amn Committee”.

Tension had gripped Lyari since the killing of PPP activist Malik Mohammad Khan while he was leading a procession of party activists against the conviction of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani by the Supreme Court in a contempt case on Thursday.

Outlaws targeted the rally leader despite the fact that around 1,200 policemen supported by CID and FC personnel equipped with armoured personnel carriers (APCs) had already been deployed in Lyari to fight the outlaws.

Nabeel’s car attacked

National Assembly member from Lyari Nabeel Gabol, who attended the Namaz-i-Janaza of the slain party colleague, claimed that his car was also attacked with a grenade but the attacker missed the target. Police, however, did not verify his claim.

They said Mr Gabol was taken to a police station in an APC and later dropped at a safe place on Mauripur Road.

Among the eight people who lost their lives in the fresh violence was Malik Mushtaq, a cousin of the slain PPP activist.

The police said he was killed near Meeran Naka while on his way to the place where Malik Mohammad Khan’s funeral was to take place.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official posted at the airport was killed while he was on his way home near the Lyari Degree College. The police said the victim, Ghulam Dastagir, was shot and wounded by unknown suspects on Haji Bakhar Road. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital where he died during treatment, they added.

SP Aslam Khan, speaking to the media, claimed that the CID personnel shot dead a gangster, Naeem Lahuti, who carried a Rs500,000 bounty on his head, during the daylong battle.

Two young men identified as Fida Husain and Shoaib Faiz were gunned down near Kumharwara within the remit of the Kalakot police station, the police said, adding that both the men were shot to the head and their bodies were taken to the Civil Hospital, but their families took away the bodies without allowing the medico-legal formalities to be completed.

An employee of the Karachi Electric Supply Company and a former footballer, Asif Usman, was killed near Gabol Park and a 25-year-old man, Abdul Ghani Baloch, near Jhatpat Market within the remit of the Kalakot police station.

In an area known as Trans-Lyari, a police constable, Abdul Hameed, was killed and his two other colleagues were wounded when they came under attack near the Love Lane bridge within the remit of the Pak Colony police station, the police said.

Police officers among wounded

Among the over 25 people wounded in the Lyari violence during the day were Chakiwara SHO Idress Bangash, DSP Qamar of the CID, and SP Aslam Khan’s guard Waqas. They were taken to the Civil Hospital and provided treatment.

Meanwhile, the police claimed to have arrested Shah Jehan Baloch, whom they described as a Lyari gangster, during the Friday violence in Lyari.

They also claimed to have taken over the offices of Mullah Nisar and Taj Muhammad alias Taju in Singhu Lane. “The offices were barricaded with rail tracks by the gangsters,” the police said.

Inspector-General Mushtaq Shah after visiting the affected areas of Lyari during the day told the media that outlaws fired straight shots at the police to block their way into the localities infested with criminals.

However, he added, the police force penetrated deep into the localities, pushing back the fully equipped outlaws.