Pakistan police kill five suspected Taliban rebels

Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 6:32 AM Posted by Beijing News


Pakistani police killed five suspected militants with links to Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who were plotting terrorist attacks, a spokesman in Karachi said Saturday.

Police raided a house on the outskirts of the city after getting information that insurgents were holed up there disguised as people fleeing the fighting in Swat, Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad told AFP.

"Police surrounded the house where the militants were hiding and asked them to surrender," he said.

"The militants opened fire. Police retaliated, killing five militants on the spot," he said, adding that some of the rebels managed to escape.

"These militants from north western areas were plotting terror attacks inside the city, they had links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan TTP.

"They entered Karachi telling the authorities that they were IDPs Internally Displaced Persons", Ahmad said.

"Police have recovered a huge quantity of weapons and explosives from them, and launched a search operation" to arrest the fleeing militants, Ahmad said.

The TTP, led by Pakistan's most wanted Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, is blamed for many of the suicide attacks and bombings that have killed almost 2,000 people over the last two years.

Pakistani police announced this week the arrest of 25 men suspected of plotting attacks on foreign targets in the capital Islamabad.

Pakistan has been hit by a worsening wave of deadly attacks in recent weeks blamed on Taliban militants seeking to avenge a nearly two-month-long military offensive against them in the northwest of the country.

The offensive, which has been strongly encouraged by Washington and enjoys widespread support among the Pakistani public, has displaced around two million people.

It was launched in April after militant Islamists advanced to within 100 kilometres 60 miles of Islamabad.







The sun sets over the New York City skyline on June 26. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)