One after the other: 4 men killed in 2 blasts

First a grenade was thrown, then an IED went off.

KARACHI:

The city’s police force lost two men as terror struck the city on the eve of Rabiul Awwal 12.

At least four people, including DSP Kamal Khan Mangan and sub-inspector Akbar, were killed in two seemingly coordinated explosions that occurred near a garbage collection point located along Rehri Road in Muzaffarabad Colony in Landhi.

At least nine people, including police constables, were also injured in the attack. The dead and injured were rushed to Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and PNS Shifa Hospital. The victim, DSP Kamal Mangan, was the elder brother of DIG Prisons Nusrat Mangan.

According to officials, a grenade had exploded at the garbage dump along Rehri Road. Minutes later, as people went there to inspect the damage, an improvised explosive device, which was concealed in a brick, went off. Two ambulances and a police mobile were also damaged in the attack.



Police officials described a scene of utter chaos, with people being thrown off their feet. “The sound of the explosion was heard miles away,” said one official. “It was probably a grenade. When a police team moved in to secure the area, a second, more powerful, explosion took place approximately 15 minutes later.”

“Three policemen were killed and three others were wounded in the twin blasts in Sherpao Colony,” confirmed Hashim Raza Zaidi, Karachi’s administrative chief. Zaidi said that the victims were killed by the second blast when they rushed to the site after the first explosion.

“The remote controlled devices were planted on a garbage dump. The first explosion did not damage anything but when policemen and civilians reached the site, there was a second blast, which caused injuries,” he said.

Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s casualty ward, said that the injured were hit by sharp, metallic objects.

The police officials have yet to determine the target of the blasts, or the motive of the perpetrators. “It is really hard to say anything at this stage. The bomb was planted along the road in an obscure area. We need to investigate further,” said one official.

(With additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2013.