Pak security forces clear Karachi Police Office after TTP attack

Karachi: The office of the Karachi police chief, which came under an audacious attack from heavily-armed Pakistani Taliban terrorists, has been cleared, officials said on Saturday while confirming that three attackers and as many security personnel lost their lives.

Security lapses are being blamed for the attack carried out by terrorists of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on the Karachi Police Office building on Friday.

A senior police official who did not want to be named said it appeared as if the attack was carried out to send a message to law enforcement agencies.

“They had definitely come prepared for a long standoff as food packages have also been found in their bags and at same time the attack is apparently a message that we are close,” he said. In an hours-long operation, police commandos and paramilitary soldiers cleared the Karachi Police Office of terrorists, who stormed the five-storey building in the country’s most populous city on Friday evening. A senior police official, who was part of the team leading the operation, told the Dawn newspaper that there were three attackers who arrived at the KPO in a white car. One of the attackers blew himself up on the building’s fourth floor while two others were shot dead on the roof. “I can so far confirm that the Karachi Police Office building has been cleared. Three terrorists have been neutralised,” Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab tweeted.

According to the official figures, three terrorists were killed and four others, including two police constables, a rangers soldier, were also killed in the intense gun fight that took place for nearly three hours.