Four killed, over 50 injured as blast rocks city

By Danish Rafique

KARACHI: Four people were killed and more than 50 others injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a parked motorcycle exploded near Ayesha Manzil within the precincts of Gulberg police station here on Tuesday.

At around 6:58 pm, the remotely-exploded bomb hit the locality after a joint public gathering of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran concluded.

The waves of the explosion were felt many kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion. Several buses and other vehicles were also damaged. Witnesses said a heavy smoke was seen following the explosion, which created panic in the entire vicinity.

The injured and bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed and other hospitals.

A heavy contingent of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), police, experts of Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) and rescuers rushed to the scene. The law enforcers cordoned off the blast site to avoid any untoward incident.

According to hospital sources, the victims were identified as Talib Hussain, Rehan Ullah, Tayyab and Hashim. The injured were Kashif, Shabbir, Jawad, Sheeraz, Tauqeer, Ghulam Hussain, Faizan, Atiq, Raheem, Akif, Saleem, Zaheer, Yaseen, Raja, Abrar, Imran, Mehboob and others. The identity of others injured could not be ascertained till filing of the report.

DIG East Asif Aijaz Shaikh told Daily Times that the bomb was planted in a motorcycle.

A BDS official said that the bomb contained ball bearings and sharp objects. He said that investigators recovered damaged parts of the motorcycle and preserved evidence for probe. He further said that the terrorists had used remote-controlled device to detonate the explosives. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from any outfit about the blast.

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