RECPRDER REPORT

KARACHI: The police and the Rangers, who intensified their anti-terrorism operations in response to the fresh wave of terror in Pakistan, announced Friday they killed 27 militants associated with banned organizations including ISIS, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

The operations came a day after the bombing at the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan in Sindh, which left a hundred devotees killed and thrice as many injured.

A detailed press release issued by the Rangers said 11 of them gunned down in Mangopir and seven near the Superhighway. The deaths occurred during a search operation and an encounter with the paramilitary forces.

Some of the dead militants were identified as Malik Tasadduq Hussain of Lashkar-e-Jangvi; Noshad Khan, aka Mama, of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar; Sheraz Ahmad of ISIS; and Sheeraz, aka Sajjad, of Jamat-ul-Ahrar. All those killed were said to have been involved in targeted killings, sectarian violence, and bomb attacks.

Three Rangers were injured in clashes.

Police said it killed nine men in the vicinity of the Superhighway.

The SSP of Malir, Rao Anwar, said the militants, who were planning to target the Rangers’ headquarters in Karachi, had opened fire on the police party which had arrived on the scene. One of the nine was reported to be a suicide bomber.