2 injured in Karachi compound attack claimed by Pakistan Taliban

A gun battle raged Friday night inside a police compound in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, just weeks after a bomb blast at a police mosque in the country's northwest killed over 80 officers.

The Pakistan Taliban said a suicide squad had stormed the tightly guarded Karachi police office compound that is home to dozens of administrative and residential buildings.

Two security officers -- a policeman and a ranger -- have been treated for wounds, a source at Karachi's Jinnah Hospital told AFP.

Hours after the attack started, gunfire and grenade blasts could still be heard.

Hundreds of officers live inside the compound with their families.

"They used a rocket on the gate," Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Samaa TV.

"Terrorists are armed with grenades and other weapons."

A spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack in a WhatsApp message to AFP.

"Our Mujahideen martyrs have attacked Karachi Police Office. More details to follow," he said.

An AFP reporter near the scene saw dozens of ambulances and security vehicles arrive outside the compound.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city, a sprawling metropolis of over 20 million people and the main trade gateway at its Arabian Sea port.

Low-level militancy, often targeting security checkpoints in the north and west, has been steadily rising since the Taliban seized control in neighbouring Afghanistan in August 2021.

The assaults are claimed mostly by the Pakistan Taliban, as well as the local chapter of the Islamic State, but separatists from Balochistan have struck over the years in Karachi, capital of the southern Sindh province.

Investigators blamed an affiliate of the Pakistan Taliban for the January blast at a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar that killed more than 80 officers.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan share a common lineage and ideals with the Afghan Taliban.

Provinces around the country announced they were on high alert after the mosque attack, with checkpoints ramped up and extra security forces deployed.

"There's a general threat across the country but there was no specific threat to this place," Interior Minister Sanaullah said of Friday's Karachi attack.

He said police reinforcements and paramilitary rangers had surrounded the area.

"They are trying to reach inside the building to neutralise the terrorists," he added.