REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ISLAMABAD -- At least seven militants were killed in two separate encounters with police in Pakistan on Saturday, local media and officials said.
One of the clashes took place in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi where two militants were killed when police launched an operation by acting on an intelligence tip-off.
Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) of Karachi, Rao Iftikhar, said that the killed militants were members of outlawed outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and were involved in various incidents of target killing and kidnapping for ransom in the city.
He said that police encircled the hideout of the militants who opened fire at the cops upon being cornered.
He said that while the policemen were engaged in the gun battle with the two killed militants, their other accomplices fled the scene.
The SSP said that the police has kicked off an operation in the surrounding area to hunt down the fleeing insurgents.
In a separate incident in the country's east Punjab province, five militants were killed in a clash with police in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Police said that the intelligence department received information that some insurgents from a banned outfit are plotting a massive terrorist attack in the province to avenge the militants killed in the ongoing military operation in tribal areas.
Acting upon the tip-off, the police set up a blockade outside Mian Singh village of the Nankana Sahab town in Punjab.
In the wee hours of the morning, about seven to eight militants riding four motorcycles approached the blockade and opened fire at the police upon being stopped for security checkup.
Police killed five militants in retaliation while two to three others fled the scene.
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