Coordinated Attack Levels Pakistan Police Building - New York Times

The site of the attack in Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday.

KARACHI, Pakistan — A coordinated attack by gunmen wielding grenades and a powerful car bomb struck at a police compound in a heavily guarded quarter of central Karachi on Thursday, heavily damaging several buildings in a direct strike at government counterterrorism forces.

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A three-story police building was leveled, and a residential unit for families of police officers was reported heavily damaged.

As of Thursday evening, the death toll stood at 18, with at least 100 people injured, but rescuers were still sifting through rubble, and it seemed clear that the death toll would rise. Hospital officials said that women and children were among the injured.

That the attackers were able to penetrate the area — engaging police officers in a firefight and driving a bomb-laden vehicle to the compound’s second gate — was telling. Police officers patrol the streets; mass transit is barred from some streets; and gates keep most traffic from the compound. The area is home to two five-star hotels, government offices and the American Consulate.

Karachi has a history of sectarian and ethnic strife, and mosques and Western targets have been struck in the past by militant groups. But attacks directly on government targets have been rare.

Babar Khattak, a top police official, said some personnel remained unaccounted for. Twenty police officials had been on duty, he said. There were suspicions that the attack was a reprisal for a recent series of arrests of militants. Mr. Khattak said that the police counterterrorism unit had arrested nine militants in the past few days.

But there were conflicting reports about whether the suspects were in the compound at the time of the attack. Mr. Khattak said they were not, but Fayyaz Leghari, Karachi’s police chief, said that several militant suspects were there.

He said they were suspected of being members of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian group.

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