Al-Qaeda suspects in Karachi shoot-out

As the world remembered the the dead from last year's attacks on New York and Washington at least two suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen were killed and five arrested by the Pakistani police after more than three hours of gunfire in an upper-class residential district of Karachi on Wednesday, government officials said. A young girl was also killed in the shoot-out.

"Two gunmen have been killed and five have been arrested," a senior security official told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. He said a young girl also became the victim of the cross fire. Those arrested could not speak Urdu - the language of Pakistan - fuelling speculation that they may be of Arabic origin.

Asad Jehangir, Deputy Inspector General of police in Karachi, told IRIN it was too early to say who the gunmen were. "We got information that these people had weapons and we went in," he said from the scene. Two policemen were also wounded during the shoot-out. Authorities have not made any direct link to 11 September.

He said the five arrested gunmen were now being questioned by the authorities to determine their identify and other details. AFP and Reuters news agencies quoted security sources as saying they were believed to be Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda. The gunmen shouted pro-Islamic slogans throughout the confrontation and during their arrest.

Security was already strict in Pakistan's biggest city on the anniversary of the 11 September terror attacks in the US. Some 5,000 armed police and an equal number of paramilitary rangers were on high alert.

Government officials had told IRIN on Tuesday that security had been stepped in the country even though no specific threat was known. Pakistan is a key ally of the US in its fight against terrorism. The Islamic country has been victim of a spate of terrorist attacks aimed at foreigners and Christians.