KARACHI, Nov 26: Three of the five suspected terrorists, including a woman, who were killed in what appeared to be a suicide bombing at the seafront last week, were Chechens, a senior official said on Saturday.

While he did not elaborate on personal details, the official said two local suspected terrorists were assisting them for the major attack that was averted due to a vigilant police action.

“Initial findings show that they entered the country through Balochistan and finally reached Karachi to execute their job,” Additional IG Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh, who is currently looking after the Karachi police chief office, told journalists at the central police office.

“Further information is being collected and will be shared with the media soon. So far, we have reason to believe that the three foreigners, including the woman, originally hailed from Chechnya. Their further connections here are also being traced.”

The fresh findings to some extent matched the facts traced by the investigators while probing the identity of the four militants killed in the PNS Mehran base during the May 22 terrorist attack. The four militants killed in the hours-long gunbattle with thesecurity personnel at the PNS Mehran base were identified as foreigners, belonging to the Eurasian region and were blood relatives.

About investigations into recent bank robberies, he said the police had identified a dozen of gangs involved in the crime.

Mostly they escaped to tribal areas after executing their jobs, he added.