A Christmas terror plot was foiled as two terrorists were killed in a gunfight in Multan’s Ghazipur area late Thursday night, police officials said.

According to officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department, two terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in a raid conducted on a tip-off on Ghazipur area.

At least five terrorists opened fire at the raiding police team, and as the attack was repulsed two terrorists got killed while the three others managed to escape, said the officials, adding that huge cache of weapons was recovered in the raid.

Pakistani Christians, who number around 2 million, have been the target of a series of attacks in recent years.

Last week, two suicide bombers stormed a packed Christian church in Quetta, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 56. The attack had been claimed by the Islamic State.

Last year’s Easter Day attack in Lahore’s Iqbal Park that killed more than 70 people in the eastern city of Lahore was claimed by Jamaatul Ahrar, a Taliban splinter group previously associated with Islamic State.