A senior police officer known in Pakistan for campaigning against the Taliban has been killed in a bomb blast in Karachi, BBC News reports.

Chaudhry Aslam Khan, the head of the city's anti-terror operations, and at least two others died in an attack on a police convoy in the Essa Nagri area of the city.

Khan had survived a number of previous attempts on his life. The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out Thursday, Jan 9 attack.

A spokesman said Khan had been targeted as he had "killed, tortured and wounded" Taliban members.

A car carrying explosives smashed into Khan's convoy. Images from the scene show a number of vehicles completely destroyed and nearby buildings damaged.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid tribute to the police chief and condemned the attack. "We will not let the will of the nation be crushed by these cowardly acts by terrorists," Pakistani newspaper Dawn quoted Sharif as saying.

Khan was a well-known figure in Karachi. Since 2008, his unit has been involved in the arrests of dozens of militants - including would-be suicide bombers - planning attacks in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.

Khan had escaped unhurt when a car packed with explosives blew up outside his home in Karachi in 2011, killing at least eight people.

After that attack, he said: "They are cowards. They call themselves Muslims but they are unbelievers. This will make me even more determined to carry on operations against them."

The chief security officer of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilal Shaikh, was killed in an attack in July.