AFP, Karachi :
Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and a passer-by injured during a shootout with Taliban militants in the port city of Karachi Tuesday, officials said.
A police officer said two soldiers embraced “martyrdom” while raiding the insurgents’ hideout in the city’s Landhi area.
The raid followed an intelligence report that Taliban militants were hiding in a house in the Khurramabad neighbourhood of Landhi.
“The militants opened fierce gunfire while the paramilitary troops were raiding the house, killing at least two soldiers,” a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A medical officer at the government-run Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College confirmed the casualties.
Police officer Akhtar Farooq said seven people-two women, two children, two men and the owner of the house-were taken into custody for further investigation.
He said empty shells from 9mm pistols and Kalashnikovs and some improvised explosive devices were found in the house.
Parliament was due to vote Tuesday on a law to set up military courts for terrorism-related cases.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the plan after a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar killed 150 people including 134 children.
