By DPA
Islamabad : Two suspected Islamic militants and two policemen were killed Tuesday in a five-hour shootout between security forces and rebels entrenched in a building in the southern port city of Karachi, officials said.
The exchange of fire started when a police party surrounded a house in the city’s Landhi district to arrest suspected members of a banned terrorist organization.
“The militants targeted the law enforcers with small arms, leaving two policemen, including a senior officer, dead and four more injured,” said Akhtar Zamin, the caretaker interior minister of Sindh Province, where Karachi is located.
After around five hours exchange of fire the security forces stormed the building but four terrorists managed to escape from the building, Deputy Inspector General Police Tariq Mughal told dpa in a telephonic interview.
They were chased by the police and another firefight broke that left two of them dead and two injured, who were arrested in critical condition. A hand grenade was recovered from one of them. A child was also wounded in the shootout.
During the search of the house the police also recovered thousands of ball-bearings that are packed with the explosives in used in suicide vests.
The terrorists are believed to be members of Jundullah (Army of God), a Sunni Muslim organization that has close links with the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
The group is also involved in the ongoing insurgency in Iran’s Sistan Province.
Karachi has seen several incidents of militant violence in recent months. In October, more than 140 people were killed and 400 injured when former prime minister and liberal opposition leader Benazir Bhutto survived a suicide attack at a rally.
Bhutto died in a gun and suicide attack Dec 27 in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.