Five militants of al Qaeda's Indian Subcontinent branch killed

Karachi: Pakistan police's counter-terrorism department on Monday claimed to have killed five terrorists belonging to al Qaeda's Indian subcontinent branch, including two key commanders.

"The five (militants of the al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) were killed during an operation in the Khairabad locality of Orangi town on an intelligence report," Senior superintendent of the counter-terrorism department Umar Khatab told reporters here.

He said two of the terrorists killed have been identified as Usman Ibrahim and Nurul Hassan alias Hashim, who was the Amir (chief) of AQIS's Karachi chapter.

The al Qaeda's wing in the Indian Subcontinent is a militant organisation which has vowed to topple the governments in Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh in order to establish an Islamic state.

The militant group has also said it would attack American targets in the Indian Subcontinent.

Khatab said the five were involved in killing of policemen and Rangers personnel in Karachi and one of them was an expert in bomb making and suicide jackets.