CTD police registers cases against terror incidents

Four people were injured in a cracker attack at KU, bomb plot was foiled in Clifton on Tuesday

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) registered on Wednesday cases for the cracker attack at the University of Karachi (KU) and a foiled bomb plot in Clifton, both reported the previous day.

The case for the cracker attack was registered on behalf of constable Muhammad Tufail against two unidentified men.

According to the text of the FIR, two men had thrown a cracker at the gate of the KU's Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre at 3:20pm. The attackers, wearing shalwar kameez, were on a motorcycle, the FIR states, adding that an RGD1 grenade was used in the attack.

Four persons, including two Rangers officials and a security guard, were injured in the attack.

The police have started investigating the case after acquiring CCTV footage of the incident and recording the statements of eyewitnesses.

Moreover, the case for a foiled terror bid in Clifton, purportedly intended to target the owner of a Chinese restaurant, was registered against two unidentified men on behalf of the state.

According to the FIR, the owner of the Chinese restaurant, Yu, said in his statement to the police that he was going to the restaurant from his house as per routine. He told the police that when he was parking his car, two men, riding a motorcycle, approached his vehicle and attached something to the door of the driving seat.

He added that the motorcyclists fled, while he heard a small explosive sound coming from outside the vehicle.

The explosives, attached with the magnetic improvised explosive device, did not explode due to some technical fault and the bomb disposal squad neutralised the explosives safely.

Investigation officials stated that they had identified the direction from where the terrorists came and where they headed.

They said that they had fetched footage from high-resolution cameras of the command and control room and the face of one of the terrorists could be seen in it.

The cases have been registered under the sections pertaining to attempted murder of the Pakistan Penal Code, Explosives Act and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2020.