Lucky escape: Mohammad Din Afridi of ANP survives bomb attack in Ittehad Town

The bomb was planted in a motorcycle and exploded as the car was passing by.

KARACHI: An Awami National Party (ANP) leader and his nephew survived a motorcycle bomb attack on Sunday near Khyber Chowk in Ittehad Town. The leader, Mohammad Din Afridi, was travelling in his white Toyota Corolla after attending a meeting in Baldia Town, when the remote-controlled bomb exploded just as his car was passing through Khyber Chowk. He was the party’s vice president for the area, said Bashir Jan, the secretary general of ANP’s Sindh division.

Afridi’s nephew, Rehman Shah, two private security guards, Shakeel and Hussain, and a passerby, Imran Khan, were also injured in the attack. They were taken to Civil hospital, where doctors termed their conditions to be stable.

Members of the bomb disposal squad (BDS) reached the area soon after the blast. A senior BDS expert who wished to remain anonymous told The Express Tribune that explosive material and a large quantity of ball bearings had been placed around the fuel tank of a motorcycle parked near Khyber Chowk. The remote-controlled bomb weighed around eight kilogrammmes. “The bomb exploded as the car was passing by,” he said.



The blast also damaged an ambulance belonging to a welfare organisation, a taxi and a nearby hospital as well as a pharmacy. An electricity transformer was also damaged, causing power to go out in the area.

Police and Rangers personnel cordoned off the area soon after the blast, and conducted a targeted search operation. They detained a few suspects and transferred them to an undisclosed location for further investigation.

Afridi, who worked as a contractor, was affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party before he joined the ANP.

SP Khan said that initial investigation has led law enforcers to believe that militants affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have settled in the area, might have been behind the attack.

ANP’s Bashir Jan condemned the incident, and demanded that the government arrest the culprits targeting leaders and activists of his party.

SP Khan said that no case had been registered as the party was deliberating about whom to nominate in the FIR.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2013.