Pakistan: 7 suspected militants killed in Karachi

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Seven suspected militants have been killed in a pre-dawn operation in a port city in southern Pakistan, security forces said Monday.

A spokesman for Rangers, a paramilitary force, said in a statement that security forces raided a “terrorist hideout” on the eastern outskirts of Karachi -- the country's commercial capital and most populous city -- and killed the "terrorists" who refused to surrender.

According to law enforcement agencies, more than 100 suspected militants have been killed in clashes and operations across the country over the past week following a fresh wave of suicide attacks and bombings, which have left over 100 people dead and 400 others injured.

The attacks included a suicide bombing at a shrine in southern Sindh province that killed 88 people last week.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Pakistani militant groups, and Daesh and its affiliates have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Meanwhile, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said in a statement Monday that the military had killed "several" suspected terror group members, accused of trying to regroup in the restive North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, and destroyed their “terrorist” hideouts.

In June 2014 Pakistan launched a full-scale military onslaught on the TTP and its allies in restive North Waziristan and adjoining tribal regions near the Afghan border.

The army claims to have killed over 5,000 suspected militants, while more than 700 troops have also died in clashes and landmine blasts during this period.