Lucky escape: Two-kg bomb defused in Orangi Town

Pirabad police found bomb by the roadside as it went to the area to inquire about a cracker explosion in Orangi Town.

KARACHI:

A two-kilogramme explosive device planted near an LPG cylinder warehouse on Manghopir Road was defused by the bomb disposal squad on Sunday.

The Pirabad police found the bomb by the roadside as it went to the area to inquire about a cracker explosion in Orangi Town, SHO Shahid Khan said.

The entire place was cordoned off for public and the bomb squad was called in at the site. The bomb was an improvised explosive device stuffed with ball bearings and attached with the remote control, bomb experts said.

The criminals could not detonate the bomb as the area was cleared up to 200 metres, a bomb disposal squad member speculated. The range of the remote control is only 100 metres.

“Militants wanted to target police officers on their arrival as they first attracted their attention by setting off a cracker,” SHO Khan believed. “The explosion may have not only killed us but also caused widespread destruction if it had struck the LPG cylinders storage.”

Police have registered a case against unidentified suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2013.