Terrorist campaign aims to create instability in Pakistan, analysts say

Will to fight

Bilawal said Pakistan will resolutely fight terrorism and spare no effort to protect the safety of Chinese companies and citizens in Pakistan.

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned the "terrorist attack" in Karachi, and he expressed sympathy to the Pakistani government and people and the victims' families.

Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, said, "Essentially, this attack on the Karachi police headquarters is part of a pattern that Pakistan has been facing as the proxy war, in which the terrorists are systematically attacking security forces: the military, the paramilitary, and the police."

The apparent objective is to "instill fear, create uncertainty and instability, and to demoralize the security forces" in order to create chaos in Pakistan, he said.

According to Gul, this is the third major attack on police in the past two months, and it now seems this terror campaign is partially shifting from areas bordering Afghanistan to urban centers, such as Peshawar and Karachi.

Salman Bashir, a former Pakistani ambassador to China, said: "Terrorism has again risen its ugly head. We need to quell it."

Wahab tweeted on Saturday that among the dead were three security personnel and a civilian. One of the injured was in critical condition and the rest of the wounded were stable, he said, adding that the five-story police office and the entire surrounding area had been cleared.

Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, chief executive of the Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development, in Islamabad, said the Karachi attack was another attempt by Pakistan's enemies to use their proxies to create chaos.

"They consider it an ideal situation to weaken Pakistan," as the country is already facing economic difficulties, he said.

"However, Pakistan is determined to defeat its enemies and has the will to do so, which is clear from the Karachi operation. Pakistan forces cleared the building within a few hours."

Xinhua contributed to the story.