KARACHI: Three suspected bandits were killed in a police encounter in a Korangi locality on Tues day, officials said.

They said the special investigation unit (SIU) of the Karachi policeraided a place in Chakra Goth after receiving information regarding the presence of some criminals there.

`Armed men fired at our team when the police were busy taking position,` said SIU SSP Farooq Awan. `The police returned fire and three suspects were killed in the shootout. They all were known crimi-nals and involved in extortion, kidnapping for ransom and robbery cases.` He said the deceased were associated with a high-profile gang operating in different parts of the city and they were also involved in a few bank robberies.

The police had also recovered arms and ammunition from theirpossession, he added.

`These criminals were associated with the Saeed Bengali group. They have been identified as Abdul Shakoor, Saleem alias Guru and Ali Ahmed alias Maindak,` said SSP Awan. He claimed that they were involved in at least four bank robberles in which they looted Rs30 million.