Gunmen kill three paramilitary soldiers outside Pakistan mosque

Rangers were engaged in three-year long anti-militant operation in Karachi

Karachi

: Unknown gunmen killed at least three paramilitary soldiers and injured a fourth as they guarded a mosque in Pakistan's volatile megacity of Karachi on Friday, officials said.

The killers, on three motorcycles, opened fire on the paramilitary Rangers outside the Abu Hurairah mosque in Ittehad Town, a western suburb of the southern city that is infested with Taliban-linked militants.

The Rangers as well as the police have been engaged in a three-year long anti-militant and crime operation in Karachi and come under attack by militants frequently.

Officials suggested the attackers intended to target the Sunni mosque during Friday prayers.

\"Perhaps the mosque and the affiliated madrassa (religious seminary) was the target of the terrorists,\" Rangers chief major general Bilal Akbar told media at the spot.

\"But our people defied them and embraced martyrdom,\" he said.

In March a suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle rammed into a Rangers patrol van, killing at four soldiers.

Since January, 79 policemen have been gunned down in different parts of the city.