Gunmen order police to pray, then kill 5 of them

KARACHI - At least 10 gunmen stormed into a police station in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi last night, killing five policemen and wounding one after demanding that the officers recite Islamic verses.

The attackers escaped by car after the attack, about 5km from the international airport.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city and the scene of frequent religious violence.

The assault, one of the boldest on Karachi's police in years, comes as tension is running high following a deadly raid by thousands of Pakistani troops on 400 to 500 suspected al Qaeda and other Islamist fighters last month.

The wounded policeman, Hasan Jatoi, said the clean-shaven assailants shot several of the officers in the head after bursting into the small police post.

Karachi police chief Tariq Jameel said: "It's an act of terrorism.

"The police are conducting operations against terrorists and this could be a reaction to the operation."

It was not clear which group was behind the attack, he said.

Police tightened security at police stations across the port city of 14 million people.

Earlier yesterday, four men suspected of involvement in the Madrid train bombings, blamed on al Qaeda, blew themselves up after they were cornered by police in an apartment block in a suburb of the Spanish capital.

The explosion killed a Spanish special agent and injured 11 police, and followed a shoot-out between officers and the alleged terrorists.

Police units arrived at a flat in the southwest suburb of Leganes in search of suspects for the March 11 bombings, which killed 191 people and injured 1800.

Spain has already charged 15 people, 11 of them Moroccan, over the atrocity.

Yesterday's events came as the Independent on Sunday learned that Britain's security agencies are hunting for a suspect known as "The Recruiter" who is enlisting British Muslims for terror attacks.

He is thought to be a British citizen who received military training in Afghanistan or Pakistan and may have fought in Afghanistan with the Taleban.

Also yesterday, Scotland Yard obtained permission to extend its time to question nine British men, all Muslims of Pakistani origin, who were arrested last week in a series of raids during which half a tonne of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser used to make bombs, was found.

The arrest period for the men expired yesterday, but police obtained an extension until tomorrow under anti-terrorism laws.

- REUTERS, INDEPENDENT