Karachi : At least 25 people, including five police officials, were killed as authorities launched a final assault on the lair of Lyari gangs and criminals in a bid to end the week-long operation in a day or two.
The police crossed into Lyari from Cheel Chowk to liberate the areas of Afshani Lane and other key lanes which were the stronghold of the Lyari gangs.
The police believe they could get all the areas mopped up within a couple of days.
"We have changed our strategy and hope that now the operation is entering into its conclusive phase," Mushtaq Shah, the provincial police chief told reporters in a press conference.
"It is expected that we would achieve our target by tomorrow," he said.
Gunfire and sporadic grenade blasts were reported as intense fighting continued yesterday.
The police commander in the area told the media late on Wednesday that they found pieces of evidence that the banned groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist movement, were also conniving with the warring gangs in Lyari.
"We arrested a man who told us that they were in business with Taliban in kidnapping for ransom affairs," Mohammad Aslam, a police officer, told the media.
Likewise another man was arrested during the operation who belonged to Mehsud tribe, the clan allied with the TTP in Pakistan's Waziristan areas which borders Afghanistan.
Protests
Meanwhile the protests in support of Uzair Jan, the chieftain of the key group in Lyari, continued in different parts of the city. In Malir district, hundreds of people blocked the city's main road messing up traffic.
