KARACHI: A policeman and his neighbour were killed and four others were wounded during a clash that began over a trivial issue in a Lyari locality on Friday.

Police said a scuffle between children of the two neighbours led to a bloody fight in Gulistan Colony located on Mirza Adam Khan Road.

Chakiwara SHO Ayaz Khan told Dawn that head constable (HC) Gulab Khan, 45, and his neighbour Javed Nawaz, 26, fought with each other following a scuffle betweentheir children.

They used hard and blunt weapons along with firearms and got wounded in the fight.

They were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi where doctors pronounced Khan and Nawaz dead.

Additional Police Surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi said that HC Khan, who was posted at the Baghdadi police station, sustained four bullet wounds while his neighbour was shot in the chest.

He said that Khan`s two brothers Aslam Pervez, 32, and Asif, 28 and two other persons, identified as Irfan and Waqar, were also brought to the hospital fortreatment. The condition of Pervez was said to be critical.

Later, the police took into custody wounded Irfan and Waqar and shifted them to an undisclosed location, said a hospital official.

Suspected gangster killed in Liaquatabad `encounter` A suspected gangster was killed in an alleged police encounter in a Liaquatabad area, police said on Friday.

They said that the `encounter` took place late on Thursday night when, actingon a tip-off, the Supermarket police carried out a targeted raid and the suspect opened fire.

In an ensuing encounter, the suspect, identified as Ihsan alias Mohajir, was killed.

The police claimed to have recovered a 9mm pistol from his custody.

`He was wanted in more than 30 cases of murder and rape,` claimed SSP Central Irfan Baloch. `He was very close to [Lyari gangster] Uzair Baloch.

Uzair Baloch was also the chief of the outlawed People`s Amn Committee. He is currently facing trial by a military court.