Karachi: Paramilitary Rangers on Friday morning killed 18 alleged militants, who belonged to Daesh and other proscribed outfits, in a crackdown after the deadly suicide attack on a shrine of a sufi saint that left 88 dead and more than 340 injured.

The Rangers carried out the crackdown in Manghopir neighbourhood this morning, in which 11 terrorists were killed. Later, five of them were identified as the activists of Daesh, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Taliban that has claimed several terrorists attacks in Pakistan recently.

A spokesman of the Rangers said that one was identified as Malik Tasadduq, who was the head of LeJ. Another one was Shiraz Ahmad, who was affiliated with Daesh as well as LeJ. He was an expert of making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and planting explosive mines.

The Rangers also had an encounter when a team was on its way back to Karachi from Sehwan, where the deadly bomb on Thursday wrecked havoc on hundreds of devotees.

The Rangers team was attacked by militants near Kathor and in the retaliating fire seven of the terrorists were killed, it said.

Reports from elsewhere said that 19 terrorists were also killed in different encounters in different cities and towns of the country, including in Peshawar, Quetta, Banu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu and Orakzai Agency.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with his cabinet members as well as the Pakistan Army chief visited hospitals in Sehwan and Nawab Shah to offer their condolences and inquire about the health of the injured, who were reciveing treatment there.

The prime minister called upon the nation to be united in order to fight the menace of terrorism in the country.

He offered bouquets to the injured.

On Friday, 13 others succumbed to their injuries in Nawab Shah and Sehwan, taking the overnight death toll to 88 from 75. A health official said that the number of injured people was 343.

The situation in Sehwan became tense after the agitated people attacked a police van and set it alight to protest the meagre response of the government to save the lives of injured people.

Police opened aerial gunshots and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, who blocked the several roads of the town.

The police arrested many protesters, which intensified the law and order situation. Later they released the rounded-up people to defuse the tension.

The provincial Sindh government has announced a three-day mourning period for the deaths at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine.