KARACHI, May 3: For the first time in the weeklong Lyari operation, the police claimed to have taken two alleged gangsters bodies into custody after killing them in an exchange of fire in Afshani Gali on Thursday morning.

Earlier at several times during the operation, SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan had claimed that the police had killed several ‘gangsters’, but he was unable to produce their bodies.

However, the families of the two alleged gangsters killed on Thursday morning claimed that the two youths were innocent and vehemently denied that they were gangsters.

Sporadic gunfire and rocket and grenade attacks continued on the 7th day of the operation on Thursday.

While no serious casualty was reported on the day, a policeman was said to have been wounded in a rocket attack near Cheel Chowk.

The police also claimed that they had made temporary ‘bunkers’ in Afshani Gali and Singu Lane.

According to the police, they entered Afshani Gali in the early hours of Thursday in four to five armoured personnel carriers and during an exchange of fire they killed the two suspected gangsters.

The police claimed that they took possession of the two bodies and shifted them to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities.

They claimed that two AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades were found in their possession.

On Thursday morning, the suspects’ families reached the Civil Hospital and identified the two youths as Shiraz and Junaid.

Their families claimed that the two youngsters were returning home in Shah Baig Lane in Baghdadi when the police attacked them.

According to them, Shiraz was a contractor with the city government. Junaid’s occupation remained unclear. However, Junaid’s brother Siraj was a security guard at the Bilawal House, sources said.

On Thursday afternoon, protesters from surrounding Baloch-dominated localities converged on a Malir 15 area to stage a protest demonstration against the police operation in Lyari.

Miscreants set five motorcycles on fire, police said.

The protesters set fire to tyres and blocked the main road that caused server traffic jam on the road and adjoining streets.

Within the remit of the Malir City police station unknown persons attacked the home of Salman Abdullah Murad, an adviser to the chief minister of Sindh.

The incident took place at Salman Towers, where Mr Murad’s office was located on the ground floor. Miscreants attacked and ransacked his office also.

Death toll (official)

Over the past seven days of the Lyari operation as many as 36 people have been killed and 156 wounded in the incidents of firing and rockets attacks, official police data obtained by Dawn shows.

At least five policemen have also been killed and 10 policemen wounded over the past seven days in the operation.