KARACHI: A teenage boy was shot dead while two others were wounded in an armed attack in Chakiwara on Thursday.

The attack was carried out by gangsters in reaction to the killing of an accomplice of theirs, police and witnesses said.

The incident triggered a protest by residents against gangsters and law enforcers` failure to curb crime despite the ongoing Rangers-led operation there in which several gangsters had been kille in `encounters`.

According to Lyari SP Aftab Nizamani, suspected gangsters linked with the gang of Noor Mohammed alias Baba Ladla fired at people sitting on a shop and in Gul Mohammed Lane. As a result, three persons were wounded and taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors declared Ramazan, 18, dead.

The victim was a rickshaw driver.

The teenager`s murder angered area residents, who protested at Lea Market against the gangsters and the law enforcers` failure to protect them.

They blocked the road at Lea Market for a while and burnt old tyres, causing suspension of traffic.

However, the Lyari SP said the protesters dispersed af ter talks with the police. SP Nizamani said Baba Ladla-linked gangsters attacked the area residents in reaction to citizens` recent beating up of an `extortionist` identified as Liaquat, who later died.

Area residents said Liaquat had allegedly demanded extortion from shopkeepers in Gul Mohammed Lane in Ramazan. When he went there to extract `bhatta`, shopl(eepers caught him and beat him severely before handing him over to the law enforcers.

Liaquat was admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he died from the injuries caused by hard and blunt weapons on Wednesday night.

Soon af ter his burial in a local graveyard, the suspects linked with Baba Ladla attacked the shopkeepers in the market on Thursday, which resulted in the killing of the teenager.