At least eight militants of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, Ansar-ul-Sharia, have been killed in a pre-dawn operation in the port city of Karachi in southern Pakistan, security officials said on Sunday.
A spokesman for Rangers, a paramilitary force, said in a statement that Rangers and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) forces raided a militant hideout in the Baldia Town area in Karachi -- the country's commercial capital and most populous city -- and killed eight militants.
Ansar-ul-Sharia Pakistan (ASP), the al-Qaeda inspired militant group, recently surfaced in the port city of Karachi when the group reportedly carried out an assassination attempt on Khawaja Izharul Hassan, opposition leader in the provincial Sindh Assembly, on Sunday.