Metropolitan commissioner among five injured in bomb attack

Commissioner's police security guard dies at hospital.

KARACHI: An explosion targeting Metropolitan Commissioner Matanat Ali Khan's convoy, near Essa Nagri on Sir Shah Suleman road of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, left a police security guard dead and another three, including the commissioner, injured.


Express News reported that the blast occurred just before Iftar on Saturday evening and hit the metallic-coloured double cabin of the metropolitan commissioner when he was on his way home in North Nazimabad from his office in the Civic Centre.

While the commissioner was shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital for treatment, his police guard Sohail Anjum Siddiqui, driver Haroon and a passerby Yamin were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

At the hospital, the guard succumbed to his injuries and passed away.

The blast injured as many as five people, including the commissioner and his guard. He has been rushed to the Liaquat National Hospital where his situation is described as 'stable'.

Matanat Ali Khan's  guard died at the hospital during treatment.

Express News correspondent Nadeem Khan informed that explosives had been hidden in a motorcycle parked near the road in front of the mosque and was detonated using remote control. The explosion also damaged two motorcycles and as many rickshaws besides shattering the windowpanes of nearby buildings and a seminary.

The incident took place near Civic Centre, the nerve centre of Karachi's civic administration. The sprawling exhibition hall, Expo centre is located in the same area. On getting news of the blast, an extra contingent of law enforcers reached the site and cordoned off the locality to collect evidences from the site.

According to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) at duty on site, an improvised explosive device (IED) was used to target the commissioner.

“The bomb was planted on a tank of the motorcycle parked along with the road,” BDS expert told The Express Tribune. “It was exploded with a remote control device.”

The expert said that about four kilogrammes of highly explosive material and one kilogram of ball bearings were used in making of the bomb.

There is some confusion amongst law enforcers about the group and motive behind the attack. Althought the city commissioner appears to have been the target, Deputy Superintendent Nasir Lodhi while quoting the initial investigation told Express Tribune that the commissioner’s vehicle was followed by the squad of the CID Chaudhry Aslam Khan.

“It could be a mistaken identity but Chaudhry Aslam was not present in the squad,” DSP Nasir Lodhi explained. “May be the suspect who pressed the button of the remote could not manage the timings but nothing precise can be said about the target until the investigation finalises.”

Officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) also arrived at the site, condemning the incident and demanding the government and law enforcers to arrest the culprits. KMC Director Media Ali Hussian Sajid talked to Express Tribune:

“Right now, it is premature to talk about who was behind the incident and why,” he said. “Matanat Sahab is now in stable condition. He received leg injuries.”