KARACHl: Police on Saturday claimed to have killed four suspected militants in an alleged encounter on the outskirts of the city.

The Malir police said the suspects were linked to the banned Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQlS).

They were allegedly planning terrorist attacks in the metropolis, the police said, adding that the suspects were also involved in targeted killings of personnel of Rangers and policemen in various localities of the city.

Malir SSP Rao Anwar told Dawn that the police got information from an intelligence agency that some AQlS militants were present in a house in Sector-77, Block-B of Taiser Town, Scheme-45 off Northern Bypass.

Acting on the tip-off, the Gulshan-iMaymar police carried out a targeted raid on their alleged hideout. On seeing the police, the militants opened indiscriminate fire and tried to escape. The police returned fire and in an ensuing encounter, all four suspects were killed on the spot.

However, none of the members of the raiding team suffered any injuries in the exchange of gunfire.

The SSP identified one of the deceased as Ibrahim alias Afia, who he claimed was a `dangerous militant`.

`He was Burmese and was associated with Pervez alias Paru group of AQlS,` the SSP said.

Pervez was killed in a police encounter in Sohrab Goth in 2014, he added.

While the identities of the remaining three suspects were yet to be established, SSP Anwar said that the dead militants were wanted for their involvement in different acts of terrorism most such acts were carried out in Korangi, Ibrahim Hyderi and other adjoining areas.