Mosque bombing: Police checking record of militant organisations

By Hasan Mansoor

KARACHI: The police in Karachi are checking the record of previous sectarian killings in the city and elsewhere with prime emphasis on banned Deobandi sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a senior police official told Daily Times on Sunday.

“We have not yet established proof against any militant group for involvement in Friday’s bombing of a Shia mosque, but are checking the record of previous sectarian terrorism highlighting mainly the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” said Gul Hameed Samo, DSP (Investigation) of Saddar town. He said the Lashkar was notorious for such acts. “The same group was involved in the attack on a Shia procession during Muharram two months ago, besides being involved in various attacks on Shias in Karachi,” he said. Some 48 people were killed in an attack on a Shia religious procession in Quetta in March.

The investigators, however, said checking the record was one of a few lines the police were working on. The police is waiting for families of two of the 14 people killed in the blast whose bodies were shattered into pieces. One of them is believed to be of the suspected suicide bomber. “No one has contacted us to identify these men. These bodies could not be identified easily and we’ll have to run DNA tests,” Mr Samo said. The police is also checking the record of various police stations to look at reports on people who disappeared since Friday, he said. Investigators for Friday’s bombing in the mosque have already reached the conclusion that it was a suicide bombing, Fayyaz Leghari, Deputy Inspector-General (Investigation) told Daily Times. He said the police had some useful leads. “We have got the chemical examination of the flesh and limbs of two men. We found these on the floor and walls of the mosque,” Mr Leghari said. Manzoor Mughal, a senior investigator, said “Our investigations have revealed the suicide bomber had been reconnoitering the mosque for at least three days.”

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