Twin bombs, grenade attack leave 9 dead in Karachi

Nine people were killed and 22 sustained injuries as two blasts and a hand grenade attack rocked the country’s financial hub Karachi on Tuesday. The dead included a woman and three children. The two blasts took place in the parking lot of a shopping center in Haidery Market, a crowded commercial area of the city. Four persons were killed on the spot, while 22 got injured in the twin bombings.
The injured were moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where four more succumbed to their injuries. Only one of the deceased was identified so far, named Noorudin. One of the bombs was planted in a motorcycle that was abandoned in the parking lot of the shopping center. Police said the motorcycle had been snatched from its owner by unidentified men on November 3 last year. The other bomb went off within minutes of the first. Police said the second low-intensity bomb was planted close to a tree. The Bomb Disposal Squad said the bombs were improvised explosive devices (IEDs) packed with ball bearings and about 8 kilograms of explosives were used in the first bomb while the second weighed around 2Kgs.
A police official said the Bohri community was the target of the terrorists, as several attempts had been made to attack the community. Shops in the area were closed down immediately after the blasts, which destroyed two vehicles and several shops. Police checked the CCTV footages for clues, but the effort yielded no result. Sindh Additional IG Iqbal Mahmood said the terrorists had changed their strategies and were now carrying out attacks by planting bombs in various areas of the city. A three-member investigation committee has been formed by the Sindh Home Department to probe into the incident. The committee has been ordered to submit its report within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, a hand-grenade attack on the unit office of MQM resulted in the killing of one person and injuries to three others. Police said unidentified men hurled a hand-grenade at the MQM office in Baldia Town No 3, killing a party activist on the spot.