Suspect kills officer in raid on Pakistan home, escapes

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suspect involved in an attack on a lawmaker killed one police officer and wounded another during a raid at his house and he was able to escape from his eastern Karachi neighbourhood, police said Monday.

Counterterrorism police officer Rao Anwar Ahmed said the suspect was wounded in the raid. He said Abdul Karim Siddiqi was the mastermind of an attack on an ethnic lawmaker on Saturday. The lawmaker escaped unhurt but a policeman and a child were killed. Police later shot and killed one of the attackers.

Ahmed said that Siddiqi belongs to a militant group and planned to assassinate Khwaja Izharul Hasan to ignite violence in the city. Hasan’s party the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has a history of violent reaction when its people are killed.

Hours after the early morning raid, Ahmed told reporters that based on an intelligence report, he had a team raid a construction site in eastern Karachi, where four Islamic militants were holed up. He said all four militants were killed in an hour-long gun battle.