Karachi: Two Taliban commanders were among 12 militants, including foreigners, shot dead by Pakistani forces on Friday in Karachi and Ziarat district of troubled neighbouring province of Balochistan, officials said.

Para-military Rangers carried out an early morning raid in Musharraf colony near the beach area of Hawksbye in Karachi and killed four Taliban militants including local commander Abid Muchar.

A spokesman for the Rangers said the raid was carried out on a tip off that militants had set up a safe house in the colony and were planning terrorist acts.

"One Rangers personnel was wounded as a result of a grenade blast in the encounter," spokesman Sibtain Rizvi said.

"The four killed were involved in heinous acts of bombings, training suicide bombers in Karachi," he said.

He said the militants were planning an attack in the city when the raid took place and there was an encounter between the forces and the militants who were heavily armed.

On Wednesday also, the Rangers had killed five Taliban militants in the Mangophir area.

Since the Peshawar school massacre that killed 148 people, mostly students, action against militants from Taliban and other banned outfits have been stepped up in the major cities of the country.

In Ziarat district in Balochistan, security offices killed eight militants, mostly foreigners, including a local Taliban commander.

According to a security official, the militants were killed in the Chotiar area of Ziarat district today when an operation was launched to flush out insurgents from the area.

"We have also recovered arms and ammunition from the possession of militants," he said.

He said the Taliban militants were involved in kidnappings and terrorist acts.

"They were in forefront of collecting funds for the banned outfit through kidnapping and extortion."

He said the militants who were killed appeared to be foreigners. This incident has come a day after security forces picked up four militants from nearby Quetta.

Source: NewsX