One man was killed and up to 19 others were injured in a hand-grenade attack in Lyari on Monday night.
The incident took place at around 9:45 pm at the Lucky Star Chahchi Hotel, a teashop, near Meera Naka.
According to witnesses, people were having their dinner amid a power breakdown when a motorcycle stopped and its riders lobbed a hand grenade at the teashop. But no one could tell for sure how many people were on the motorcycle as it was dark. Some people said that there were six men on three motorcycles. Residents said they heard the explosion and then saw the motorcycles speed by.
Lyari is beleaguered by a turf war between gangs based on ethnic and political lines. But Lyari SP Pervez Iqbal Bhatti told The Express Tribune that the teashop was located in a “neutral” area. “These were just normal, neutral people out to have dinner. Till now, there were no reports that anyone at the teashop was affiliated with a gang,” said SP Bhatti. On who could possibly be responsible, he said, “The Arshad Pappu gang could be involved as they have been involved earlier as well.”
The body and the injured were taken to Civil hospital.
Meanwhile, Lyari SP Javed Iqbal Bhatti said that 12 people were injured in a grenade attack at the teashop which was carried out by “a group that wanted to spread fear”.
Civil hospital medico-legal officer Dr Mubarak Ali denied that anyone was killed in the incident. He said the injured are slightly bruised and none of them are in critical condition. He confirmed that 12 people were brought in. Hospital sources said however, that a 24-year-old man was brought dead but his family took him away without allowing legal formalities to be conducted.
The injured people who were brought to Civil hospital were identified as Iqbal, Akram, Ibrar, Sajid, Fateh Mohammad, Hamid, Ghulam Maqsood, Habib, Fazl Mohammad, Imran and Zahid. The injured people taken to the Lyari General Hospital included Mushtaq, Ibrahim, Nisar, Bilal, Aftab, Rafiq, Saleh Mohammad and Atif.
On March 19 - just two days after Lyari’s Peoples Amn Committee was disbanded - one of its key workers, Habib Jan Baloch survived a hand-grenade attack. Just like Monday’s incident, men on one or more motorcycles threw the explosive.
Similarly, on April 10, three sweepers were injured in a hand-grenade attack outside the Lyari Town office. In May, two such attacks took place on gambling dens in Lyari within two weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.
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