Quick action: FIR lodged in thwarted suicide bombing case

Police claim they were responsible for averting the incident

HYDERABAD: Though the Rangers took credit for thwarting a terrorist attack by shooting dead an alleged suicide bomber, the Hyderabad police stated in the FIR that it was them who did the deed.

"Around at 12:30pm we reached near the shrine of Syed Habib Shah and saw two suspicious persons coming from the graveyard. When we signalled them to stop, one of them opened fire at us," reads the FIR lodged at Airport police station on the complaint of SHO Mohammed Anwar Khanzada.

In the exchange of fire one alleged would-be suicide bomber sustained gunshot wounds and died while the other escaped, according to the FIR. The suspect who fired at the police escaped. The identities of both are still unknown.

In contrast, a press release issued by the Rangers on Friday stated that the suicide bomber tried to enter Imambargah Hub-e-Ali at Friday prayer time and threw a grenade at the Rangers mobile before being shot.

"When we searched the body we found a suicide jacket tied around it," reads the FIR. As per the report, the bomb disposal squad reached the graveyard, which is located in Amani Shah Colony, around 1:30pm and defused the bomb, which weighed between five and seven kilogrammes, by 3:15pm.  The police claimed to have recovered six spent bullet shells fired from the suspect's pistol and two of a sub machine gun (SMG). A pistol with one live bullet was found near the body.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2016.