KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) led the early vote count in Karachi’s by-elections on Thursday, Geo reported.

Strict security measures were been made for smooth balloting in the electoral contest. Over 9,000 Rangers and police personnel were deployed at 213 polling stations, all of which were declared sensitive.

A public holiday was announced in Karachi’s district Central to allow citizens to cast their votes. Pillion riding ban was effective in the district central while ban on it was lifted in other parts of the city.

Authorities had set up a command and control room at the office of the Deputy Commissioner Central and it was handed over to police and Rangers.

Twelve candidates including MQM’s Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Ismail and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Rashid Naseem were in the run for NA-246 constituency.

47 Taleban insurgents killed

Pakistan’s military Thursday claimed to have killed at least 47 Taleban fighters in two days of airstrikes in the restive northwest as part of anti-insurgent offensives that began last year.

The latest strikes hit the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal district, close to the Afghan border, considered a stronghold of Taleban insurgents. The area has been repeatedly targeted by US drones in the past.

“Twenty-two terrorists were killed in precise aerial strikes late last night in (an) area (close to) Datta Khel in North Waziristan Agency,” the military said in a statement Thursday.

The army has been stepping up its response against militancy, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians since 2004 when Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants fled from Afghanistan to its tribal areas.

Thursday’s attacks come the day after 20 militants were killed in the Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district, where the Pakistani Taleban and Lashkar-e-Islam groups have strongholds.

“In precise aerial strikes in Tirah, Khyber, today, 20 terrorists — including three suicide bombers — were killed. Destroyed hideouts of terrorists include their ammo and ration dumps,” the military said in a statement late Wednesday.

In another incident late Wednesday, the military said it had killed five insurgents in a search operation in Shakto area of South Waziristan tribal district.

Khyber is one of seven autonomous tribal districts along Pakistan’s mountainous western border, which became a hotbed of militants following the US-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 2001.

The military began its latest offensive in Khyber in October 2014, four months after by a bloody Taleban attack on Karachi airport ended peace talks and triggered a similar operation began in North Waziristan district.

Airstrikes, artillery, mortars and ground troops have all been used to take back territory.

Both conflict zones are off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the number and identity of those killed.