Four killed in Karachi police attack claimed by Pakistan Taliban

At least four people were killed when a Pakistan Taliban suicide squad stormed a police compound in the port city of Karachi, with a gun battle raging for hours as security forces went floor-to-floor through an office building in pursuit of the assailants.

The attack comes just weeks after a bomb blast at a police mosque in the country's northwest killed more than 80 officers, and officials said that security would be stepped up in the capital Islamabad.

The Pakistan Taliban said its fighters had stormed the tightly guarded Karachi Police Office compound, home to dozens of administrative and residential buildings as well as hundreds of officers and their families.

"Four people were killed in the attack, including two policemen, one ranger and one sanitary worker," Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui said, adding 14 others were wounded.

"The operation has concluded with the killing of all three terrorists," he said.

A spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility.

"Our Mujahideen martyrs have attacked the Karachi Police Office. More details to follow," he said.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city, a sprawling metropolis of more than 20 million people and the main trade gateway at its Arabian Sea port.

Low-level militancy, often targeting security checkpoints in the north and west, has been steadily rising since the Taliban seized control in neighbouring Afghanistan in August 2021.