Tags: Pakistan , Islamabad , Karachi , Baitullah Meshsud

Karachi, Pakistan: Five militants linked to Pakistan's Taliban leader killed in a shootout in the southern city of Karachi.

According to the sources, city police Chief Waseem Ahmed said the gunfight erupted in the early hours of Saturday when police raided an apartment, where they later found a large quantity of explosives that may have been destined for suicide bombing attacks.

Ahmed said the militants were loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's Taliban leader who is blamed for a string of attacks across the country. Mehsud is the target of a military operation heating up in his home territory of South Waziristan in the volatile northwest.

A Mehsud spokesman on Friday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing against the army in Pakistani Kashmir and warned the Taliban would launch more attacks.

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