Karachi beachfront blast kills six

Remains unclear under what circumstances the heavily armed terrorists decided to blow themselves up.

KARACHI:

An unlikely explosion in an unlikely destination killed two police constables and at least four suspected terrorists under mysterious circumstances in Karachi’s posh Sea View locality near the Village restaurant on Wednesday night at around 10:30pm.

While police claimed that the heroics of their two constables Maula Bakhsh and Mamraiz Iqbal thwarted a major terrorist attack in the city, it remained unclear under what circumstances the heavily armed terrorists decided to blow themselves up. The suspected terrorists not only outnumbered the policemen, they also outgunned them by a mile.

A suicide jacket, grenades and Kalashnikov rifles all believed to be with the terrorists were also recovered from the crime scene. The two police constables carried just two standard AK-47s with them. Three bodies of the terrorists were found intact and were left at the crime scene till the filing of this report. However, officials said the terrorists could number five since a dismembered head with shoulder length hair, called a wig by some TV channels, was also recovered from the spot.

Home Minister Manzoor Wasan claimed that the two police constables first chased the terrorists, engaged them when they refused to stop and when they were cornered, the terrorists panicked and blew themselves up. He announced Rs2 million for the slain policemen, one of whom – Mamraiz Iqbal – died later at the hospital.

“We had information that terrorists were planning attacks during Muharram, but we didn’t realise that they would plan to do something much earlier,” Wasan said.

District South DIG Commandant Shaukat Ali Shah told The Express Tribune that the crime scene suggested that at least four terrorists were killed in an explosion. He said that the suicide jacket worn by one of the terrorists may have exploded by mistake destroying the car in which they were travelling. “It appears that the terrorists used the same type of suicide jackets that the terrorists involved in the PNS Mehran base attack used,” he said.

The DIG said one could not say for sure what exactly was the target of the attackers since the DHA houses a number of high security zones, including consulates.

While the bodies of the policemen were immediately shifted to the hospital, those of the suspected terrorists were left there at the spot. The suspected terrorists were dressed in shalwar kameez and sported medium sized beards. Forensics teams collected fingerprints from the dead bodies.

There were unconfirmed TV reports that the car used by the suspects bearing registration number 5294 was owned by Maqbool Ahmed Khokar. A reported Identity card of one of the suspects, night vision goggles and first aid box were also recovered. Police officials who spoke with The Express Tribune however did not confirm the TV reports.

(Read: Suicide attack in Karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th,  2011.