Three Pakistan rangers killed in Karachi attack: report

At least three personnel of Pakistan’s Sindh Rangers were killed in an attack on the paramilitary force headquarters in Karachi, Dawn newspaper reported.

Eyewitnesses said they heard a loud explosion followed by gunshots along the main road in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar neighborhood near several universities and the Pakistan meteorological department.

Sindh Inspector General Javed Alam Odho told Dawn that three militants were also killed in the attack on the local Sindh Rangers headquarters.

Eyewitnesses said a militant crashed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the paramilitary force’s provincial headquarters, sparking an intense gunfight with security forces.

Mohammad Bakhsh said he was praying in a nearby mosque when he heard the explosion.

“The ground felt as if there was an earthquake,” said a 40-year-old person who runs a restaurant in the area.

“When we came out there was smoke everywhere… then the gunfire started,” he said, adding that the shooting lasted about 15 minutes.

A Reuters reporter at the scene said the shooting had ended and the situation was calm.

This is the most notable attack in Karachi since the explosion that targeted a Chinese convoy in October 2024, killing two Chinese citizens.

Attacks in Pakistan’s major cities have become increasingly rare in recent years, but a rise in militancy in areas bordering Afghanistan has raised concerns that violence could return to urban centres.

with AP