Pakistan: 6 Suspected Taliban Killed İn Karachi

Six suspected Taliban militants  were killed in a clash with police in the southern port city of Karachi in Pakistan on Saturday, officials have said.



The clash occurred in the eastern district of Karachi where police, acting on a tip, raided a Taliban hideout, Rao Anwar Khan, city police chief, told reporters.



He said the suspected militants opened fire and hurled hand grenades at police after being asked to surrender.



The police returned the fire and killed all six militants, he said, adding that they belonged to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella network of various Pakistani Taliban groups.



Among the deceased was a "senior Taliban commander"  Ahmad, who had been injured in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan a few months ago and brought to Karachi by his accomplices for treatment, the police chief said.



 Around 150 suspected militants have been killed in several clashes with the security forces in Karachi in the last six  months. Around two dozen security personnel have also lost their lives in clashes with militants during this period.



Human rights organizations and local media have frequently criticized Pakistani security forces' practice for killing suspects extra-judicially. Karachi police in particular have often been accused of torturing suspects and killing them in staged gun battles, locally known as "fake encounters," on the pretext that they belonged to a militant group.



According to security agencies, hundreds of Taliban have established bases in several outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, due to an ongoing military operation in the northern tribal belt.



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