Three Rangers personnel killed in attack on Karachi headquarters

Gunmen rammed the gate of the Sindh Rangers headquarters in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area on Saturday and opened fire, killing three Rangers personnel and three militants in a brazen assault that briefly shut down streets near Mosamiat Chowrangi. The confrontation unfolded in one of the city’s busiest residential and institutional corridors, close to universities and the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Sindh Inspector General Javed Alam Odho said the attackers drove a vehicle into the compound’s main gate before storming the building. Police and paramilitary units moved quickly to seal off the area, with Special Security Unit commandos, the Anti-Terrorist Force and Rangers personnel taking positions around the site as a mopping-up operation continued. Rescue 1122 said it received reports of an explosion near Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 5 and sent teams to the scene, while the Edhi Foundation said at least two people were wounded and taken to hospital.

Witnesses described the blast as powerful enough to shake nearby buildings. Mohammad Bakhsh said he was praying at a mosque when he heard the explosion, then saw smoke spreading before the gunfire started. He said the shooting went on for about 15 minutes, underscoring how quickly the attack turned a crowded neighborhood into a security zone.

The Sindh Rangers, a paramilitary force that has long been a key arm of Karachi’s urban security apparatus, have repeatedly been drawn into the city’s counterterrorism battles. Their local headquarters became the target of a direct assault at a time when militancy has been intensifying in parts of Pakistan near the Afghan border, raising fears that extremist violence could again spill into the country’s largest city and commercial hub.

Casualty figures remained fluid in the first hours after the attack. Al Jazeera said about five armed men were involved, that four attackers were killed, and that an affiliate of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility and said nine attackers took part. Arab News later cited a senior police official as saying four Rangers personnel were killed, six attackers were killed and one militant was captured injured.

The Karachi assault was the most significant attack in the city since the October 6, 2024 bombing near Karachi airport, which killed one person and injured 11 others, including foreign nationals. For officials trying to keep militant networks from regaining momentum, the attack on the Rangers headquarters was a direct test of whether Pakistan can still defend strategic urban targets in the heart of Sindh province.