20000129

Six killed in

two bomb blasts

in city, 25 injured

WIRASAT HUSSNAIN

KARACHI: At least four people were killed and more than 25 injured in two bomb blasts at different places in the city on Friday, police sources said. However, volunteers involved in rescue work at the second bomb blast off Super Highway, reported six dead and 35 to 40 injured.

The first blast in the City Courts, outside the Domicile Office, took place at about 12:55 p.m. in which four people were injured, the second blast which took place at about 1:45 p.m. in a mosque on the Super Highway killed six persons and injured about 40 persons. A third bomb blast in another mosque was reported to have taken place immediately 10 minutes after the second blast, but no one was harmed. The police and the Bomb Disposal Squad has, however, not confirmed it.

The bomb that exploded in Jama Masjid, Qayyumabad, on Super Highway, was wrapped in a Jai-Namaz and kept inside the mosque, bomb disposal squad chief Moinuddin said. It was a home-made device and weighed about 200 grams.

Moinuddin said the deaths took place as the bomb blast demolished the walls and blew up the asbestos roof of the mosque. The debris of the building material and particles of the explosive might have caused much harm to the namazis, he added.

The Jama Masjid Qayyumabad was crowded for Friday prayers when the explosion occurred.

The injured and the dead were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre by the Edhi volunteers.

Medico-legal officers of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, on duty at about 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., refused to give the names of the dead as they are "asked by the high-ups not to divulge the names."

Police sources also expressed their inability to give particulars of the dead. However, names of the injured were available with the police and the hospital.

Edhi volunteers who shifted the injured from the site of explosion to Abbasi Hospital, surprisingly, could not give the number of bodies they had transported to the mortuary of the hospital.

The explosive that went off in the City Courts was planted in a Kawasaki motorcycle. It broke the motorcycle into two parts and damaged four cars parked nearby. The wounded included a woman, a child, and two others.

They were shifted to the Civil Hospital for medical aid.

The third bomb blast that reportedly took place in Masjid-e-Umer, in a kutcha encroachment near Gulzar-e-Hijri Police Station site, did no do harm to life or property.

Moinuddin, said the report of the third blast could not be verified as none was there to support what the Pesh Imam of the mosque had reported. " The report is not correct," he added.

Sindh Governor Azeem Daudpota and other high civil and police officials visited the site of two explosions and condemned the acts of terrorism. The governor termed the explosions as "timid" attempts to destabilise the country.

He appealed to the people to cooperate with the administration and help in arresting the terrorists.

Adviser to the Chief Executive on Information and Media Development Javed Jabar and Sindh Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Shahida Jameel have in separate statements condemned the bomb blasts and termed them as acts of terrorism.

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"It is an act of terrorism to destabilise the government," said Sindh Governor, Azeem Daudpota.

Talking to newsmen at the site of the explosion, the Governor said such acts would not be successful in bringing instability in the country.

He did not rule out the possibility of foreign hand in the blast.

"There could be involvement of a foreign country in the blast," he said while replying to newsmen questions.

Referring to security measures, the Governor said he would not defend the local administration on failure to check such incidents of terrorism.

"But it is the duty of all the persons to help check acts of terrorism," he said.

The Governor said even the Americans could not check incidents of this nature.

The Governor also attended a briefing at the court premises by top officials of police and Commissioner of Karachi Shafiq Piracha.

"Token system will be introduced for entry of vehicles, besides tighter security measures within the court premises," the Governor told newsmen after attending the briefing.