KARACHI: Four suspected members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including a key commander identified as Abid Muchhar, were killed in a raid carried out by Rangers personnel during the early hours of Friday in Karachi's Musharraf Colony area, DawnNews reported.

Upon receiving intelligence, Rangers personnel went to carry out the raid in Musharraf Colony situated off Hawkesbay road in the city's Keamari Town when they were attacked with five hand-grenades and gunfire.

One Rangers man was wounded as a result of grenade explosions.

Abid Muchhar and three of his associates were killed during retaliatory action. He is said to have been involved in various incidents of bombing, including suicide bombings, in Karachi.

Security sources also claimed to have recoveredan AK-47 rifles and other weapons from the militants.

Sources says he was engaged in planning another terror attack in the city when the raid took place.

Rangers personnel had on Wednesday killed five members of the TTP in a clash in the Manghopir area of Karachi.

The clash came three days after the TTP carried out the deadliest ever attack in the country on the Army Public School in Peshawar, killing 148 people, most of them children.

The attack brought international condemnation as well as promises of a decisive crackdown on militants from political and military leaders.

Police have also arrested five suspected members of Al Qaeda's newly formed South Asian chapter suspected of carrying out an attack on a naval dockyard in Karachi in September.

Karachi, a teeming metropolis of around 18 million people, is rife with political, ethnic, sectarian and criminal violence.