A woman militant was among four terrorists of banned Jundallah terror group linked to Taliban who were killed during a seven-hour-long shootout in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, police said today.
In a targeted operation, one militant was shot dead by Rangers in an encounter and three other militants of Jundullah group were killed in suicide blasts in the Urdu Bazar area in in one of Karachi's most congeted localities yesterday.
"Initially when the Rangers and counter terrorism department of Sindh police carried out a raid, one suspected militant was killed but others who were present in the building were holed up in their rented apartment," Counter Terrorism Department official Umar Khatab said.
"We had to close down the shops in the area and after evacuating civilians to safety, we restarted the operation to flush out the remaining militants," he said.
Khatab said the raid was carried out after a militant who was arrested earlier from Baldia town confirmed the presence of the Jundullah militants, including a woman, in Urdu Bazaar.
Four Rangers were injured in the operation as the militants retaliated by throwing grenades and firing during the operation.
A most wanted militant of a banned outfit was arrested after the raids.
Khatab said the militants had opened fire and used hand grenades after being boxed in the apartment and due to the congested residential area, it took hours before three of the militants blew themselves up.
The Counter Terrorism Department said a five-year-old boy present with the militants also died in the blast.
The Rangers claimed to have recovered a huge cache of automatic weapons, ammunition and hand grenades from the slain militants.
Urdu Bazaar is situated in a old locality of Karachi close to the historical Radio Pakistan building and is famous for housing a busy book market and tyre shops. The market is also known for selling wholesale paper, old books and publishing and printing services.
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