Lucky escape: No victims as ‘dumped’ bomb goes off

The locally made explosives weighed around two kilogrammes.

KARACHI: No casualties were reported as a powerful explosion rocked Quaidabad Monday afternoon. The explosives went off in a garbage dump on Rehri Road in New Muzaffarabad Colony at around 12:45pm, witnesses and law enforcers said.

At least two scavengers were present near the garbage dump at the time of the blast, but they escaped unhurt. “Just a while ago, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s garbage lifting vehicle had dumped waste here,” a boy at the dump told The Express Tribune. “After it left, we set fire to the heap as per routine. The blast took place after 15 minutes.”

Police and Rangers arrived at the spot and cordoned off the area. The Bomb Disposal Squad was also called in to collect evidence.

The crude explosives were made into a bomb locally and weighed around two kilogrammes, according to a bomb disposal expert. Ball bearings were also packed in. “It went off due to heat,” he said. Police believe the bomb was not a terrorist attack but exploded accidentally.
“We cannot say if the explosives were dumped there or came with the garbage later,” said SHO Amanullah Marwat. “We are tracing all the spots from where the KMC’s lifter had collected garbage.”



The presence of terrorists cannot be ruled out as already several attacks have taken place in Quaidabad and its surrounding areas recently, the officer said. No case was registered.

The city has witnessed a string of bomb blasts in the past one month, starting off with attacks on Muharram processions. On December 11, a powerful bomb at a roadside restaurant in Quaidabad had claimed two lives and hurt 10 more people. Only hours earlier on Sunday, a factory was attacked with a hand grenade.

Grenade attack

Police have registered a case (569/12) under the Explosives Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act against unidentified suspects for lobbing a grenade at a cement factory on Sunday night. The case was registered on behalf of the factory’s watchman, Nehal Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2012.