Islamists stormed a police station in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, killing two people in a hail of gunfire and a series of loud explosions before they themselves were killed, officials said.

Security forces retook the building after several hours and killed three militants, a government spokesman said. Police commandoes and a bomb disposal squad entered the building and a security sweep was underway.

Two people had been killed and 11 wounded in the militants’ attack, a government spokesman said.

A huge explosion was heard inside the station after a series of blasts when it was first attacked.

The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), took responsibility for the attack in a message sent by their spokesman to journalists.

The station houses offices of the city’s most senior police. Deputy Inspector General Irfan Baloch told Reuters there could have been up to 30 police at the station at the time of the attack.