Ambushed: Police, ANP leader come under attack

Bomb goes off outside medical store which was also attacked 20 days back.

KARACHI:

Two policemen were injured when a police mobile was attacked with a hand grenade in Mawach Goth, Maripur on Saturday.

Earlier, police constable Razzak’s residence had been attacked with a hand grenade after which a team of Maripur police, headed by SHO Naseer Tanoli, along with policemen of other stations in district West cordoned off Mawach Goth and started door-to-door search operation.

During the targeted operation, the Maripur police’s van was attacked with a hand grenade. Two policemen, Ayaz Ali and Hameed, were injured and taken to the Civil Hospital, Karachi. Following the incident, additional police contingent was called to the site.

SHO Naseer Tanoli while talking to The Express Tribune said that at least nine suspects were taken into the custody during the operation, adding that three hand grenades, four pistols, a Kalashnikov and drugs were also found in their possession. He confirmed that two arrested suspects who belong to Lyari gangs, Kashif and Imran, were involved in both the attacks and were also drug peddlers.

Police have registered cases under the acts of narcotics, explosives and anti-terrorism.

Attack on shop of ANP leader

A bomb went off outside the medical store owned by the Awami National Party PS-93 president, Zakir Hanif, in Metroville, SITE.

The explosion also damaged two other shops next to the medical store and shattered the windowpanes of nearby buildings and vehicles.



Extra contingents of Rangers and police cordoned off the area after reaching the site and evacuated residents. According to experts of the Bomb Disposal Squad, who collected evidence from the site, a remote-controlled device was used to detonate the bomb, which weighed around two and a half kilogrammes but did not contain ball bearings and nut bolts. No casualties were reported.

Zakir’s store was attacked with a hand grenade twenty days ago while his father, advocate Hanif Khan,  was also shot dead in a targeted attack last year in the same area.

According to Zakir, the men belonged to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and demanded Rs2 million as extortion money from him two months ago. He said that upon his refusal to pay the money, the store was attacked with the hand grenade.

ANP leader Bashir Jan condemned the incident, calling it an act of terrorism. “From Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Karachi, we are being targeted by terrorism,” he said. “There is no good or bad Taliban - a terrorist is a terrorist and must be treated accordingly.”

SHO Rao Rafiq said that apart from the attack on the medical store, police will review the investigations of the previous attacks and target killings of ANP men in Karachi.

An FIR No.7/13 has been registered under the explosive act against unidentified persons. No arrests have been made as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2013.