Terror threat: Police remain clueless as fourth bomb found in three days

All four bombs were found in district East, two of them were ready to go off, say police.


Our Correspondent August 31, 2013
All four bombs were found in district East, two of them were ready to go off, say police. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:


For the third day in a row, the Bomb Disposal Squad was called in to defuse a bomb - this time from one of the city’s no-go areas, Sohrab Goth.


The one found on Friday is the fourth bomb found in district East in the last three days. The first one was found from ‘Budh Bazaar’ on main Rashid Minhas Road in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on August 28. Two others were found on Super Highway near Ganna Market within the limits of Sohrab Goth police station.

Law enforcers, however, have been unable to ascertain if these bombs are a warning for a major terror activity in the city or hold some other meaning.

Around 11:30am on Friday, an anonymous caller informed the police about a suspicious concrete block lying in a garbage dump on Super Highway - the same place where two bombs were found on Thursday.

Sources in the bomb disposal squad told The Express Tribune that two bombs, one found on Thursday from Sohrab Goth and the other bomb found from Budh Bazaar, had no detonators attached to them.

“Of the four bombs, two of them were not complete enough to explode, while the other two were ready to go off,” said a BDS expert who examined the bombs. “All of them were homemade bombs attached with different devices, including timers, mobile phones and remote controls.”

Police investigators are not sure if a single group or multiple groups are behind the threat. “We are not sure,” said East SSP Imran Shaukat while talking to The Express Tribune. “Investigation is being conducted to ascertain the motive and the culprits behind them.”

Extra contingents of law enforcers reached the site and cordoned off the area, while public was asked to move 200 feet away from the spot. “This bomb was complete and a mobile phone device was attached to it,” said Sohrab Goth SHO Naeem Khan. “Our bomb disposal experts defused the bomb after hectic efforts.” The bomb weighed around 15 kilogrammes, including three kilogrammes of ball bearings.

“Interestingly, two bombs found earlier were planted 10 to 15 feet away from the one found on Friday,” explained SHO Khan. “We have yet to ascertain the group behind these bombs and their target.” He said that the police were investigating the matter from different angles as it could be possible that terrorist outfits were dumping their bombs out of fear of the ongoing police operations or they might want to target the general public to build pressure on the government and law-enforcement agencies. There could also be trouble between two groups of Taliban in Karachi, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2013.

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