ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister says his government will pursue peace talks with militants despite a recent spate of attacks, naming a four-member committee to facilitate the talks.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also called on the militants to observe a cease-fire in a televised speech to lawmakers at parliament Wednesday.

Sharif long has supported talks as the best way to end the years of fighting with the militants in the country’s northwest.

But after a spate of attacks in January, he has been under pressure to take steps to bring the country’s violence under control, raising questions about whether he would authorize a large-scale military operation against militants like the Pakistani Taleban and other extremist groups.

Meanwhile, three bomb blasts including a suicide attack targeting Pakistani security forces in the commercial hub of Karachi killed at least four people on Wednesday, officials said.

The dead included three paramilitary Rangers and one civilian, while four others were wounded.

In the first incident, two IEDs were placed close to a Rangers’ checkpost in the busy North Nazimabad neighborhood, killing one soldier and wounding three when they were detonated remotely.

“These were the IEDs which were installed in cement blocks targeting Rangers,” senior police officer Amir Farooqi said.

Later, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Rangers’ headquarters located in the same area of the city, killing two troops and a civilian security guard, and wounding another.

“The suicide attacker walked in and tried to enter into the gate when he was intercepted by the security officials and he blew himself up,” Farooqi told AFP.

A spokesman for the Rangers confirmed the toll. “The Rangers personnel who spotted and intercepted the suicide bomber will be awarded highest Rangers gallantry award,” he added.

The injured were rushed to the nearby Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.

Earlier this month a Taleban suicide attacker killed one of Pakistan’s best-known police commanders, famed for his fearless work tackling militants in the city.

Karachi, a city of 18 million people which contributes 42 percent of Pakistan’s GDP, has been plagued by sectarian, ethnic and political violence for years.

Pakistan has endured a bloody start to the year with more than 100 people killed in attacks in January, according to an AFP tally.