K ARAI HI July fe In a fierce crackdown on ethnic miiixn. crew ritv forces cordoned aB the eastern district erf the city wdav leaving hundreds of thousands of rewtents trapped mthur homes without focal or ware, report AP AFP

Vukures picked at rotting bodies strewn on the streets of the u npewer wiled area of Karachi. Pakistan » largest citv and commercial center, where sec untv forces banted with rebeh.

Meanwhile muc h awahed talks between the igwernmenl and ethnk AfohajirOumi Mmrment tMQMloo resuming tfx Karachi crMs have been

Maid Dehh i and shcih linpaL foe negotiators of the five member M^M team, armed here kidav from I j indoi > for «ha the party termed a prrliminarv round of talks with Prime Mtnister Benazir BhuOo s side k> be ted by Law Minister IV Khanin Mamai udon Sundae

■When we sit for talks, we will assess the atlitudi of tlx grwertuw (U and w ill try to probe what exactly k demands frran os said I tehivi who b also a mnnhi-r of the MQM advisory

rhr meeting. carikT st hetfated for today was put off due io a delay in thr par s reiuni to Pakretan.

Dehh i said the MQM w ould pre sou its 18-puim charter cd demands • hx h nRates greater repreaentaum of the coaununitv in jobs, recruit meat d local people m dr pcdiie force and for pniitii 8 and economic rgd*d 2U sdfeai staters

lodav at feast 15 people were foiled and M wounded in the third day flidfoag in Kurangc a targe diw met .d M>Ork> peopte mowed them laclurv workers and labourers. Police said live death toil was expected to climb as fighting raged late into the evemng

Two cither people were foiled by snipers and stray bullets in different parts of this spr.iw ling port city.

In Korangi. crows and vultures picked at corpses that lay in the Street as temperatures surpassed 52 degrees centigrade, accotding Io residents rvac tied bv telephone. Mom of the dead were vouog men or Ken-age boys.

More than 1 000 police and paramilitary troops surrounded the dritnet closing off all mutes in and out BesidetMs said anyone who entered ft» area was shot o«i si|dit

The firing is so intense tftat tux bods c an go out Bulkts are Oy ing in dl tenua 4$year-old k^tal Khan said in a telephoix inters iew as gunfire raged in the bai kground.

He said water and electricity supplies had been cut off and that people had been unable to buy food because all shops liad been dosed.

Mohammed Iqbal, a police officer. said at least 200 arnx-d nx-n are holed up in the area. They have occupied 50 houses and are slxxXing from the rooftops.

Many of those on the periphery of the district left their homes and streamed into other parts of the city.