KARACHI: In the first major gunbattle with suspected militants in the city since the launch of an army operation in North Waziristan, nearly half a dozen suspects were killed while two law-enforcers received gunshot wounds in the Manghopir area on Friday morning.

Hours later in another targeted action in Usmanabad, one more suspected militant belonging to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was shot dead, City SSP Sheraz Nazeer told Dawn.

Police and the Rangers carried out a joint raid on a hideout at around 10am while acting on a tip-off about the presence of the militants belonging to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in Mir Mohammed Goth of Sultanabad. On seeing the law-enforcers, the suspects threw explosive material and opened fire on them, triggering an hours-long gunbattle, according to Karachi West SSP Irfan Baloch.

In the gun-and-grenade attack on the law-enforcers, followed by the exchange of fire with militants, two Rangers personnel were wounded and two suspected TTP men were shot dead, added the officer.

Two TTP men gunned down in Usmanabad, SITE raids

Karachi police chief Additional Inspector General Ghulam Qadir Thebo said Fakhruddin alias Fakhru, a local commander of the TTP, and Abid alias Chhotu were killed in the joint operation carried out by the police and Rangers against militants in Manghopir.

During the targeted operation, a search was carried out in the area where the paramilitary force again encountered militants and, after a fierce gunbattle, three more suspects were gunned down, the police chief added.

He said the deceased militants were involved in killings, extortion and kidnapping for ransom.The city police chief said Karachi’s west zone had become a safe haven for militants over the years, giving rise to kidnapping cases, extortion, killings and violence. “We have decided to conduct targeted operation in the militancy-infested areas of the city, especially Karachi West, on a daily basis to dislocate the militants in order to arrest or kill them and prevent them from regrouping or regaining strength there,” said the additional IG.

The two wounded Rangers personnel, Nasir Ali, 34, and Najamuddin, 32, were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment. “They sustained multiple injuries caused by some explosive material,” said additional police surgeon Dr Abdul Haq.

“Their condition is out of danger,” he added.

What appeared to be the intensification of operation against militants, police and Rangers on Friday night carried out joint raids in the Kalakot and SITE areas where two more TTP suspects, later identified as Hazrat Bilal Shah and Nisar, respectively, were killed in separate encounters.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2014