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Car bomb kills 3 in Karachi

* Explosion outside KFC and PPL office, near big hotels
* BLA ‘spokesman’ claims responsibility

By Abbas Naqvi, Intikhab Ali and Azizullah Khan

KARACHI/QUETTA: A high-intensity car bomb killed three and injured 14 people outside a US fast food restaurant in central Karachi on Tuesday.

The explosion near the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) building at around 8:40 am was heard as far away as Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where an emergency was declared as doctors rushed to the scene.

Iftikhar Awan, a Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) security guard, and Sabz Ali, a Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) guard, were killed at the scene. Fifteen injured people were rushed to JPMC. Some were later referred to Civil Hospital Karachi and PNS Shifa with severe burns. One of them, Javed Iqbal, a guard at the PIDC building, later died at CHK. A PPL office is located in the PIDC building.

The bomb was placed in a car parked 16 feet from the KFC restaurant. Seven parked cars nearby were completely destroyed and eight were partially damaged. All the PIDC offices facing the street were damaged, as were the nearby Pearl Continental and Sheraton hotels.

The five-kg timed device contained HE-RDX explosives and was locally-assembled. It blew a crater 1.5-feet deep and four-feet in diameter in the road, a bomb disposal squad official told Daily Times. “The bomb burnt 15 vehicles, the fast food restaurant, the bank branch and the OGDC office,” he said.

“We will solve this case soon,” Zone I Investigations DIG Manzur Mughal told Daily Times. “The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has accepted responsibility for the blast but it’s possible they did this to distract our attention.”

DIG Mughal said the PIDC building had two closed-circuit cameras, but one of them was out of order and the other was destroyed in the blast.

Police sources said the car used in the explosion was an 800cc Suzuki Plus with fake number plate ACL 483. The original number plate was ACB 490 and registered to a Mrs Parveen Razzak Shaikh of Khairpur’s Mohalla Akhun. According to official records, the car had not been reported stolen, but DIG Mughal said that the car was stolen from Khairpur on September 25.

“I was passing the PIDC when something suddenly came and hit me in my back and I fell,” said Asad Imam, a 16-year-old madrassa student. “Something also came and hit me in my right leg. As I fell down, the cars burst into flames, which surrounded me. I was not aware of what was happening as people came and dragged me away.”

“At the time of the blast four of us were in the bank,” said Asif Ali, a cashier at MCB who was injured. “It felt as if an earthquake had struck.”

A beggar named Allah Ditta who was also injured complained that the people who took him to hospital swiped Rs 600 from his pocket.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the explosion was “naturally an act of terrorism”, AFP reported.

A man identifying himself as Chakar Baloch claimed responsibility for the bombing on behalf of the BLA. He said the bomb was targeted at the PPL.

Later, a man identifying himself as Azad Baloch and also claiming to represent the BLA condemned the blast. Neither man was the one who has claimed attacks on behalf of the BLA in the past.

Police sources said that a man was arrested at the scene of the blast after officers overheard him saying: “It’s a good thing the bomb exploded.”

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