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Seven killed in Karachi shoot-out - Pakistani police | |
(40 minutes later) | |
By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Karachi | |
At least seven people have been killed in a shoot-out in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi. | |
The dead include five militants and two policemen - officials say one of the militants blew himself up after an exchange of fire with the police. | |
Taliban militants have been expanding operations in Karachi after fleeing operations in northern Pakistan. | |
They have carried out several attacks - including one in September which targeted a senior police official. | |
'Attack planned' | |
"The militants were driving a van on Beach Avenue," a police official - who examined the scene of the attack - told the BBC. | |
"A police patrol on motorbike approached the vehicle as it appeared suspicious." | |
There is still confusion about the subsequent events: some eyewitnesses say there was an exchange of fire. | |
Others say four of the militants jumped out of the vehicle as the police approached - at which time a suicide bomber inside the van blew himself up. | |
What is clear is that the militants were only meeting at this location as there is no residential area nearby. | |
Beach Avenue - as the name suggests - is located on Karachi's shoreline in the upscale Defence neighbourhood. | |
Police officials say they suspect the men were planning a major attack, as at least one unexploded suicide belt, several grenades and automatic weapons were recovered from the site of the incident. | |
A police official told the BBC that some of the evidence recovered from the site suggested links to militants who broke into the Mehran naval base in Karachi in June. | |
At least nine people were killed and 19 wounded when militants engaged in a stand-off with security forces for nearly 18 hours in central Karachi. |
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