KARACHI: Four terrorists including a woman were killed while another arrested during a raid conducted by Rangers in city’s Urdu Bazaar area late on Monday.

A spokesman for Rangers said that four personnel of the paramilitary force were also injured in the encounter, which continued for more than seven hours.

Two civilians also sustained injuries during the shootout.

The official sources said that four terrorists were killed during the raid against the suspects hiding inside an apartment in busy Urdu Bazaar locality.

Rangers had raided the hideout on information about the presence of the suspects, who attacked them with hand-grenades and automatic weapons. As a result, four personnel of the paramilitary force were injured.

Three of them killed when they blew themselves up inside the hideout, while the fourth was killed when he attempted to escape from the scene.

According to Rangers, an arrested militant had pointed to the building where his accomplices were present.

The building, where the miscreants had taken refuge, and nearby properties were evacuated as the exchange of fire began between the two sides.

A minor child also lost life inside the apartment owing to the explosion inside the building.

The spokesman said that the suspects having links with a banned outfit locked themselves inside the apartment after seeing the security personnel.

Meanwhile, Preedy SHO Aurangzeb Khattak said that when they received information of some kind of disturbance in Urdu Bazaar, police mobiles rushed to the scene and found the paramilitary force engaged in a gunfight with suspects said to be associated with a banned organisation.

SHO Khattak said the hand grenades hurled by the suspects at a Rangers mobile caused injuries to four soldiers and two other people, who were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi.

He said the Rangers conducted the raid after receiving an intelligence report, according to which some alleged terrorists were holed up near Muqaddas Masjid inside a building on Street No 2 in the Urdu Bazaar locality.

The paramilitary force seized huge quantity of weapons and hand-grenades from the site where shootout took place.

Sources said that the militants were planning a major terror attack in the city.

Three of the terrorists killed in the encounter were identified as Muhammad Zahid, Naeem Achakzai and Hameed, between the ages of 30 and 45.

Naeem belonged to Pishin and was driving a taxi in the city. Hameed was living in the apartment with his wife and daughter, both of whom were also killed during the operation.

Investigations

The Rangers sealed the apartment after the encounter and have arrested 10 people including the owner of the flat.

DIG South Azad Khan visited the crime scene with forensic team and collected the evidences.

According to the sources, the owner of flat who also owns the tea shop in the building rented the apartment to his relatives who settled in here couple of months ago.

The area people said that the residents used to avoid meeting neighbours.