Target attacks kill 91 policemen in Karachi this year

A Pakistani police constable has been gunned down by unidentified masked men here on motorcycles, making him the 91st victim of the target killings of policemen in the country's largest city this year.
The constable was on his way to the police station, when some unknown persons opened fire in Gulshn-e-Maymar area. He succumbed to his injuries on way to a nearby hospital.
The total number of policemen gunned down in target killings in Karachi this year has touched 91, officials said.
In some cases the militants have even attacked patrolling police mobiles.
The police and paramilitary rangers have also stepped up their operations in areas of the city which are believed to be safe houses for Tehreek-e-Taliban militants.

The TTP militants escaped military operations in the tribal areas and sought refuge in Karachi which is home to around 18 million people.

"It is a dangerous trend but this is bound to happen because the terrorists are basically trying to settle scores in numbers and scare policemen from performing their duties," Umar Khatab, a senior official in the anti-violent crime cell of the CID which targets terrorists and extortionists, told PTI.
Khatab who lost a close colleague, Chaudhary Aslam to a terrorist bomb attack earlier this year claimed by the Taliban said more force and sophisticated equipment is required to root out the terrorists who have taken refuge in Karachi.

Another senior official said the biggest problem facing the law enforcement agencies was that there were many Katchi Abadis (shanty town housing) in Karachi dominated by the Pushtun speaking population who have migrated to the city for employment and business.
"These terrorists and militants gel very easily into these Pushtun speaking localities and they are very well equipped and trained," he said.
The militants have also not spared the paramilitary rangers who in many ways are better trained and equipped than the police, he added.