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