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At least three paramilitary soldiers were killed on Saturday after terrorists attacked a Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Karachi's heavily populated Gulistan-e-Jauhar area, police said. Initial investigations suggest the terrorists arrived in a vehicle and entered the compound by ramming the main gate, said Sindh Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho, adding that more information is being collected. Rangers personnel responded rapidly but three of them were killed in the attack, he said. Odho said an explosion had been heard when the attack began; however, its cause has not been determined yet. "What is confirmed is that as soon as the attack took place, the Rangers personnel immediately took positions and engaged these attackers in a gun battle," he said. The area was cordoned off and surrounding roads also closed. Sindh Home Minister Zia ul Hasan Lanjhar said Special Security Unit commandos and the Anti-Terrorist Force were helping Rangers personnel in the clean-up opera
A spate of fire incidents in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, following last month's deadly Gul Plaza shopping mall blaze, has raised alarm among authorities, who are also examining the possibility of foul play, officials said on Saturday. At least five fire outbreaks were reported from different parts of the city on Friday, while an explosion damaged a pipeline of a main water pumping station in Dhabeji, disrupting water supply to millions of residents. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zubair Nazir Sheikh said law enforcement agencies and fire service officials were closely monitoring the situation and probing the causes of the fires, including the possibility of foul play. The renewed concern follows the January 17 inferno at the Gul Plaza shopping mall in the Saddar commercial area, which completely gutted the building and claimed at least 79 lives. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, while a week-long rescue operation led to the recovery of dozens of bodie
A mob of Islamists allegedly beat to death a member of Pakistan's minority Ahmadi community Friday while demonstrating near an Ahmadi place of worship in Karachi, a member of the community said. Police said they were investigating the killing. The victim, identified as Laeeq Cheema, died before he could receive medical treatment at a hospital in the southern port city, said Amir Mahmood, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community. Government Civil Hospital spokesperson Summaiya Tariq confirmed the death of Cheema, saying he had multiple injuries. Mahmood blamed the attack on a mob of people from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, a radical Islamist party, and said they had rallied outside the Ahmadi place of worship and tried to damage it. Senior Karachi police officer Asad Raza told local media outlets that they had deployed additional police to avoid any unrest in the city ahead of the TLP rally. He said Cheema was killed away from the Ahmadi worship site, and that police were stil
Five people including four children were injured on Monday in a grenade attack on the residence of a Station House Officer (SHO) in Pakistan's Balcohistan, as insurgents continued terror attacks in the restive province. The attack took place at the house of SHO Qadir Sheikh in Khuzdar, according to authorities. Khuzdar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Javed Zehri told the media that unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the residence of the Hub City SHO, injuring his father as well as his brother's four children. The father has been moved to Karachi for treatment while the children have been given treatment, he said, adding that the incident was being investigated. There have been a series of terror attacks in different parts of the province since militants from the banned separatist outfit Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) ambushed Jaffar Express carrying 440 passengers last week. The militants killed 26 hostages before the Army eliminated all 33 terrorists the next day. On
As many as 258 Pakistanis were deported from seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, the (UAE), and China in the last 24 hours, officials said. A spokesperson of the Immigration department at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport said, among them, 14 had Pakistani passports, while 244 were deported on emergency travel documents. We arrested 16 deportees at the Karachi airport, including one with a suspicious identity, while the rest were released after questioning, he said. He said nine of the persons deported from Saudi Arabia were professional beggars. Two of them were caught performing Hajj without permits and were sent back after completing their sentences, he added. He said that many of those deported from Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were working without sponsorship while four were deported on drug charges. One individual each was deported from China, Qatar, Indonesia, Cyprus, and Nigeria. The trend of deportations has been rising significantly, he said. In the past 24 hou
A preliminary report over the recent explosion near Pakistan's busiest airport here has indicated that the attack was executed with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency, a media report said on Saturday. The report, submitted by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to the anti-terrorism court, stated that the suicide bombing targeted Chinese engineers as part of a conspiracy to damage Pakistan-China relations, The Express Tribune reported. On Sunday, two Chinese nationals were killed and 17 people injured in the suicide attack by a Baloch insurgent group that targeted a convoy of Chinese workers. The explosion near the Jinnah International Airport on Sunday night also killed the suspected suicide bomber. The preliminary report identified the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as being involved in the attack and indicated that the attack was executed with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency, the Tribune said. It suggested that an unidentified terrorist parked
A massive blast outside Karachi Airport in Pakistan on Sunday killed two people and injured at least eight, officials said. Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan's biggest. But the provincial home minister, Zia Ul Hassan, told local TV station Geo that it was an attack targeting foreigners. A Home Ministry official told The Associated Press that it was an attack on Chinese nationals, one of whom was injured. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media. Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, most of them involved in Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative that connects south and central Asia with the Chinese capital. Videos showed flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. There was a heavy military deployment at the site, which was cordoned off. Deputy Inspector General East Azfar Mahesar told media that it seemed like it was a
A searing heat wave that has hit Pakistan's biggest city has led to the death of at least 450 people over the last four days, a leading NGO claimed on Wednesday. The Edhi Foundation said it received at least 427 bodies in the last four days excluding Wednesday while the Sindh government had on Tuesday released 23 bodies in three government hospitals. Karachi, Pakistan's port city, has been hit by extreme hot weather since Saturday with soaring mercury crossing 40 degrees Celsius for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, temperatures that are too high for a coastal areas. We have four mortuaries operating in Karachi and we have reached a stage where there is no more space to keep more bodies in our mortuaries, Faisal Edhi, who heads the Foundation, said. Edhi Trust is the largest welfare foundation in Pakistan and provides various free or subsidised services to the poor, homeless, orphan street children, discarded babies and battered women. The sad fact is that many of these bodi