Pakistani security forces killed six terrorists and captured another alive after foiling a brazen attack by militants on a Sindh Rangers compound in Karachi on Saturday night. The attack left four paramilitary personnel dead and marked the city's first major terrorist strike since October 2024.
According to a reliable security source, the attackers, belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a militant faction of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), stormed the Sindh Rangers' Bhittai Wing headquarters in Karachi's densely populated Gulistan-e-Jauhar area around 8.30 pm.
The nearly 90-minute gun battle ended after Special Security Unit (SSU) commandos and the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) joined Rangers personnel in eliminating six terrorists and capturing one injured attacker.
Four Rangers soldiers were killed in the assault.
Authorities immediately sealed off the compound and surrounding roads as heavy exchanges of gunfire continued. Residents were asked to remain indoors, while some nearby neighbourhoods experienced power outages during the operation.
Saturday's attack was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a militant faction of the TTP that has largely operated in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, carrying out attacks on civilians, security personnel and government officials.
The assault is the first terrorist attack in Karachi since October 2024, when two Chinese engineers were killed in a suicide bombing near Karachi airport claimed by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army.
The last major TTP attack in Karachi took place in February 2023, when militants stormed the Karachi Police Office on Shahrah-e-Faisal, resulting in multiple casualties.
According to initial investigations, the attackers rammed a vehicle through the main gate of the Rangers compound before entering the premises and hurling hand grenades, triggering multiple explosions.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho initially told the media that three Rangers personnel had been killed in the attack.
"More details are being collected, but initial investigations confirm the terrorists arrived in a vehicle and entered the compound by ramming the main gate. The Rangers personnel responded rapidly," he said.
Odho said an explosion was heard when the attack began, although it was not immediately clear what caused it.
"What is confirmed is that as soon as the attack took place, the Rangers personnel immediately took positions and engaged the attackers in a gun battle," he added.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah directed the provincial police chief and Karachi's additional inspector general of police to submit a detailed report on the incident.
Rescue 1122 Sindh said it received reports of an explosion near Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 5 and immediately dispatched emergency teams from its central command and control centre.
The attack comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Since late last year, Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies have repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of providing safe haven to the TTP, enabling the group to launch cross-border attacks.
Pakistan's military has, in turn, carried out several strikes on what it says are TTP hideouts and training centres inside Afghanistan.