Karachi: At least five persons were killed in an exchange of fire between two gangs in this Pakistani port city today, police said.

The gunbattle, which broke out in the restive Liyari neighbourhood, continued for several hours, a senior police officer told reporters.

Sindh's Home Minister Zulfikar Mirza said police had launched an operation to purge the area of criminal gangs, which had been operating in Lyari for a long time and had turned the area into a hub of crimes and drugs.

A large force of policemen, equipped with bullet-proof jackets and backed by armoured vehicles, raided hideouts of the gangs to arrest their members.

The criminals lobbed grenades and fired at the police raiding team, officials said.

"The clean-up operation launched by police will continue till the criminals are arrested," Mirza said.

Witnesses said policemen faced difficulties in entering narrow streets and the ambulance service could not remove bodies of dead criminals for several hours.

Source : PTI