Two officers on patrol from the Karachi Police Special Security Unit (SSU Sindh Police)

At least four people were killed when a Pakistan Taliban suicide squad stormed a police compound Friday in the port city of Karachi, with a gun battle raging for hours as security forces went floor-to-floor through an office building in pursuit of the assailants.

"Four people were killed in the attack, including two policemen, one ranger, and one sanitary worker," Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui told AFP, adding 14 others were wounded.

"The operation has concluded with the killing of all three terrorists," he said.

Earlier, Geo TV reported that armed men had opened fire on the office of the Karachi police chief. Police officials said gunmen had fired several shots at an office near the Sadar police station. According to them, at least 8-10 terrorists entered the police station.

Heavy gunfire was heard inside a police compound in the port city of Karachi in Pakistan, according to officials citing claims by witnesses and an AFP correspondent.

The attackers of the site were dressed in police uniforms, as in the attack on a mosque in Peshawar in Pakistan in January, when dozens of people were killed.

Sindh province information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told local broadcaster Geo TV, "The number of the attackers is not yet clear." AFP correspondent Ashraf Khan added, "I can hear heavy firing.... ambulances and police vehicles are at the site."

The Pakistani group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Reuters.

JUST IN | Heavy exchange of firing outside #Karachi police office during search operation, Shahrah e Faisal closed for traffic.#KarachiPoliceOffice #TOKAlert pic.twitter.com/j2fi05xtos
— Times of Karachi (@TOKCityOfLights) February 17, 2023

Massive ⚡️Terror attack at Karachi Police Chief office. Aprox Six fidayens have entered and taken Police chief and many others hostage. Heavy firing. Reportedly many policemen dead and injured
Alert sounded throughout city and Pakistan pic.twitter.com/mFmWu40I0m
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) February 17, 2023

The compound in question houses several police facilities, in addition to serving as a residence for many officers and their families.

Pakistan's rocky northwestern region has long been a hotbed of insurgent activity, with successive administrations struggling to establish a writ. Police are also frequent targets of attacks by militants from Pakistan's Taliban, as well as rebels from various Balochistan separatist groups.

In January of this year, a bomb that targeted a mosque killed at least 100 people with Pakistan's GEO broadcaster reporting that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.

According to Reuters, an explosion took place at a mosque in #Peshawar, #Pakistan; so far at least 19 were reported to have been killed by the blast, which resulted in dozens of casualties.#PeshawarBlast pic.twitter.com/Y3tvUDfiA3
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 30, 2023

In December, at least 4 people were killed and at least 15 others were injured in an explosion in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan Province. In March, a suicide bomber detonated in a mosque in Peshawar killing at least 35 and injuring 50 people.

Peshawar was also the location of a 2014 massacre by TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), which stormed a school for army personnel's children and massacred around 150 people, the majority of whom were students.