Gunmen kill two Pakistani counterterrorism agents

KARACHI (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead two Pakistani counterterrorism intelligence agents in Karachi late on Thursday in an apparent "target killing", police said.

"Both men were working for the Intelligence Bureau," said Niaz Ahmed Siddiqi, the city's police chief.

The officials, identified as Fazal-ur-Rehman and Mohammad Ibrahim, worked for the bureau's anti-terrorism wing. The bureau focuses on fighting al Qaeda and homegrown militant groups tied to Osama bin Laden's network.

They were shot in the street and died from their wounds.

The Intelligence Bureau is one of three Pakistani intelligence agencies, but the only one controlled by the Interior Ministry.

Military Intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are the armed forces' agencies.

Al Qaeda-inspired militants intensified a campaign of violence, unleashing a wave of suicide attacks, after the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad in July to crush an armed student movement.

Nearly 600 people have been killed since the start of this year alone.

A suicide bomber killed at least 21 people in an attack on a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) office in the eastern city of Lahore early this month.