The Pakistani paramilitary forces say they have killed two militants during a shootout in the southern port city of Karachi.

Clashes broke out following a raid by the paramilitary forces, known as the Rangers, on a militant hideout in Karachi’s Mai Gari Northern Bypass area.

A press release issued by the paramilitary force Wednesday said the Rangers launched the targeted operation upon an intelligence tip-off.

The militants opened fire on the Rangers, prompting the forces to fire back, which killed at least two militants, the statement added.

Pakistani law enforcement agencies say the militants were involved in subversive activities, including killings of members of security forces across the city.

On Tuesday, gunmen riding a motorcycle shot and killed two policemen in the city.

On November 20, heavily armed assailants opened fire on a patrol of paramilitary soldiers guarding a mosque in Baldia Ittehad Town of Karachi. Local Pakistani security officials confirmed that at least three of the troops were killed on the spot while the fourth died in hospital.

Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh, is home to numerous ethnic groups and has been hit by clashes between rival ethnic and political factions over the past several years.

Pakistan’s army intensified its operations against militants after pro-Taliban elements killed over 150 people, most of them children, in an armed assault on a school in Peshawar in December 2014. This comes as Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) is known as a main supporter of Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.