Gunmen free four prisoners after storming court complex

Heavily armed gunmen stormed a court complex in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, freeing four members of a banned radical group after killing one policeman.

Seven to eight armed men lobbying grenades and firing from their automatic weapons stormed into the court shortly after 3.15 pm and ran away after freeing four members of a banned religious group who had been brought to the complex under police escort.

The attackers and the four prisoners fled to the nearby Jodia Bazar, where they exchanged fire with police.

Hospital officials said a policeman was killed after being hit by bullets. Three persons were injured in the attack.

"The men emerged from the mosque inside the city court premises and attacked the police party who were escorting and
guarding the four activists of the banned outfit. They resorted to indiscriminate firing and also threw three hand grenades causing explosions as they escaped from the court," an eye witness said.

Police were not willing to confirm which banned outfit the freed under-trial prisoners belonged to. 

Police surrounded Jodia Bazar, a congested market with numerous narrow lanes, and started a search operation.
Traders shut their shops in panic on hearing the sound of
gunfire.

Karachi has been by and large spared of the violence by Taliban militants that has rocked other Pakistani cities over the past few years.