97 arrested in Karachi operations

Police have arrested 97 suspected criminals and terrorists in the last 24 hours in the country's southern port city of Karachi, an official statement said Thursday.

Police conducted 73 raids in different areas of the city to arrest the suspects, Xinhua reported citing a police statement.

It added that police had to face resistance at a number of places when alleged criminals opened fire, but no one was injured during the operations. Police also recovered 26 weapons from the arrested people.

Some of the suspects were accused of murder, kidnapping for ransom and robberies.

According to media reports, over 3,000 suspects have been arrested so far in the ongoing targeted operation launched last month in the violence-hit Karachi against terrorists, target killers, kidnappers and extortionists.

Rangers and police also recovered heavy cache of weapons including automatic guns, pistols, hand grenades and homemade bombs from the possession of the detained people.

A special cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the targeted operation to deal with the deteriorating situation in the business hub of the country.

Media surveys showed that since the start of the operation, a visible improvement was observed in the law and order situation of the city.

Over 2,000 people were killed in different kinds of attacks in the city of over 20 million population during the first eight months of this year.