Hours after at least nine policemen were killed in Lahore on Monday, a traffic policeman was killed and another injured in Karachi, DawnNews reported.

Unknown assailants riding pillion on a motorcycle targeted two traffic policemen from the Sohrab Goth Traffic Station, Constable Kamran and Head Constable Mohammad Khan, at Abul Hasan Ispahani Road while they were busy regulating traffic.

Gadap SP Chaudhry Saifullah confirmed the incident, stating that both traffic wardens had been attacked near the Paradise Bakery. Both were shifted to a nearby hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead on arrival, he added. Media reports stated that the victims were shifted to the hospital on a rickshaw.

Malir SSP Rao Anwar said two men on a motorcycle carried out the attack. He said that the slain warden, Constable M. Khan, had received a bullet injury on his head, whereas the injured, Constable Kamran had received bullet wounds on his chest.

It later emerged that the attackers had made off with Constable Kamran's MP-5 rifle. The SHO Gulshan-i-Iqbal said the attackers were later intercepted near the Sherpao CNG station by patrolling policemen, but they opened fire with the stolen weapon before escaping.

A policeman, Zubair Baloch, narrowly escaped serious injury in the gunfight, with a bullet grazing his head but otherwise leaving him unharmed. One of the assailants might also have been injured, one of the policeman said.

“Apparently, today’s incident appeared to be part of a recent wave of attacks on law enforcers in the city,” stated the Counter-terrorism Department's SSP Omar Shahid Hamid.

The attack occurred three days after three police personnel and a 12-year-old boy were killed near Korangi's Darul Uloom by six unidentified individuals, who had opened fire on a parked police van.

Following the attack, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) A.D. Khawaja had issued new guidelines for the force across the city. He had directed the policemen to follow standard operating measures (SOPs) during routine businesses.

Besides this, he also imposed a fresh set of measures, including regular firing exercises, deployment of young policemen at public places and replacement of old fleet of vehicles with new ones.

4 militants killed in 'encounter'

Hours after the targetted attack on traffic policemen, police on Monday night claimed to have killed four suspected militants close to the area where the incident took place.

Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid in the Sachal area where, in an ensuing encounter, four "militants" were killed, SSP Malir Rao Anwar said.

SSP Anwar identified two of the deceased as Akbar Swati, commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Swat (TTS), and Humayun, who he said was linked to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

The officer claimed that Swati was an incumbent commander of the TTS in Swat. He had been involved in attacks on police in Metroville and other localities, SSP Anwar said.

He had fled to Afghanistan and returned recently to Karachi to carry out terror acts, the police official added.