KARACHI – Two powerful bombs wreaked havoc in Karachi on Friday, targeting a bus first and then a hospital where casualties were rushed for treatment, killing 25 people, including women and children, and injuring scores of others in the second assault on Shia mourners in this mega City in weeks.
There were conflicting reports about the nature of the blasts as bomb disposal squad officials claiming these were suicide attacks while Interior Minister Rehman Malik said it did not appear so. He said investigation was under way to establish the nature of the blasts, reported a private TV channel.
The first blast occurred on Nursery Bridge near FTC building at 3 pm where a bomber, as per the bomb disposal squad officials, rammed his motorcycle into a bus carrying 40 mourners who were going to join Chehlum procession on MA Jinnah Road.
As a result, 13 people including women and children were killed and dozens injured. Parts of the destroyed motorcycle were found near the partially damaged bus. The blast was so intense that windowpanes of nearby buildings were broken.
The victims of the bus blast were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where the second blast occurred at 4:55 pm in the parking area of the hospital emergency, killing 12 people.
Police high-ups remained tight-lipped and they have not officially spoken a word about the nature of the blasts. Sources in the bomb disposal squad said that a man riding a motorbike was wearing a suicide jacket that contained 15kg to 20kg explosives.
About the preliminary investigation, SP Mazhar Mashwani of Crime Investigation Department (CID), when contacted, said that the engine and chassis numbers of the motorcycles used in the blasts were tempered with while parts of the motorcycles have been taken from the crime scenes for the chemical examination. BDS official Munir Sheikh said that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers on motorcycles. Body parts of the alleged bombers were found from the spots, he said and added that 15kg to 20 kg explosives were used in the first blast while around 10kg explosives were used in the second blast.
Meanwhile, another bomb, recovered from the premises of Jinnah Hospital, was defused by the bomb disposal squad. The bomb was planted in a TV monitor.
According to reports, the monitor was spotted at the same place where first blast had taken place. The volunteers identified it and informed the police. The bomb disposal squad was immediately called to defuse it.
Agencies add: “I heard a deafening explosion. I saw stretchers flying in the air. Two men fell just in front of me. I think they died,” said Azam Ali, 26, who went to the hospital to inquire about a cousin wounded in the bus attack.
“Those killed and injured were mostly Shias. They were relatives of those hurt in the first blast.”
Ambulances were heavily damaged outside the hospital, blood stained the bus and wreckage strewed the ground after both attacks, witnesses said.
Doctor Seemi Jamali, head of Jinnah Hospital, urged the government to provide security assistance and training for a war-like situation, saying that staff, patients and relatives were terrified after the attack.
“The hospital is at standstill. Patients are scared, relatives are scared, all hospital employees are scared.
“We are trained as doctors, paramedics and nurses… If it goes on like this, working in a war, then we should have training,” she told reporters.
It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan since 101 people were killed at a volleyball match in Lakki Marwat on New YearÂ’s Day, and follows a recent decline in militant activity.