Islamabad, September 11
Amid tight security measures on the first anniversary of September 11 terror attacks, three militants were killed and five captured after an encounter with the police as the ultras took over a residential building in a posh Karachi locality today. A four-year-old child was also killed in the crossfire.
“Three militants and a child were killed in heavy exchange of firing with the police. Six policemen were injured in the three-hour shootout,” official sources said.
At least five armed men have been arrested, APP news agency said, quoting Inspector-General of Police Sindh Kamal Shah. “So far terrorists have not been identified and nothing can be said about their nationality.”
He said the police stormed the fourth floor of the apartment where the militants were holed up. On seeing the police they opened fire. Three of the militants were killed in the ensuing three-hour long gunbattle.
Five injured militants along with a woman who was living with them, has been arrested, Shah said, adding that the militants were armed with a Kalashnikov, pistol and hand grenade.
Reports from Karachi, however, said the slain militant was a Yemeni national.
The militants attacked the three-storey apartment block housing six flats in Karachi’s posh Defence Colony locality, where several foreign businessmen live, at around 10 a.m. (1100 hrs IST) and tried to take residents as hostage.
PTI
