Another video surfaces of KU bomber

KARACHI:

Another video of the female suicide bomber who blew herself up at the Karachi University has surfaced. The video is of a local hotel situated on Shahrah-e-Faisal.

The woman allegedly went to the hotel to meet her husband for the last time. The video shows the female suicide bomber with two children. The woman also had a black bag slung over her shoulder. A large shopping bag can also be seen in her hand.

According to investigators, the female suicide bomber visited the hotel to hand over the children to her husband. A raid was carried out at the same location soon after the explosion for the arrest of her husband.

According to hotel records, the names of her husband and a man named Iftikhar were found in the entry register. On the other hand, sources said that the CTD and law enforcement officials again visited three residences of the suicide bomber in the city.

Forensic experts were also present on the occasion and gathered important evidence from the residences. Sources claim that the team of forensic experts has gathered important evidence regarding the presence of explosives and the preparation of the bomb.

On April 26, 2021, four people - three Chinese nationals and a Pakistani man - were killed in an attack by a female suicide bomber outside the Chinese language centre inside the Karachi University on Tuesday.

Four others, including a Chinese national and Rangers personnel, were also injured in the blast that ripped through a van carrying university teachers, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told the media at the scene of the attack.

Raja Umar Khattab, the head of the Counter-terrorism Department, confirmed at the time that it was a suicide attack carried out by a female student outside the Confucius Institute. The attacker was an MPhil student, who had said goodbyes to her friends on Twitter at 12:10pm, he added.

Read More: KU bomber arrived in city on ‘March 20’

The attacker blew herself up near the gate of the Confucius Institute, when a white Hiace van, carrying the Chinese nationals, who were part of the institute's faculty, came in her range. After the explosion, a huge fire engulfed the van, leaving no chance for the passengers to come out of it unscathed.

The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said that three to four kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack. The powerful blast shattered windows and doors of various departments of the university, according to the officials.

"We were having a meeting at the dean's office when we heard the deafening blast," Naeema Saeed, a professor at the university's criminology department, said. "It seemed that the roof was falling or the earth was torn. We all rushed outside. We looked around and saw smoke rising."

Immediately after the blast, the Karachi University employees rushed to the spot and tried to put out the fire with the help of fire extinguishers. The police and Rangers also reached the scene and summoned the fire brigade. However, none of the van occupants could be rescued.

Memon, the additional inspector general of police, confirmed that a burqa-clad woman was lying in wait for the van to approach her so that she could trigger the blast.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2022.