A view of the damaged wall of an Imambargah near Pahar Ganj in Karachi on Wednesday evening. PHOTO: ONLINE
A third cracker blast in North Karachi Sector 11-B was reported around midnight on Wednesday, after the city had suffered two successive explosions in North Nazimabad already.
Express News correspondent Rehan Khan reported that the latest blast injured two policemen, who were then shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment. One of the injured is understood to be in a critical condition.
SSP Central District Aamir Farooqi said the blast occurred near an Imambargah with a religious ceremony in progress inside.
Earlier, two back-to-back blasts occurred in the nearby Pahaar Ganj, North Nazimabad.
Planted improvised explosive devices were used for both explosions, which occurred within the space of an hour.
Express News correspondent Nadeem Khan reported that the Bomb Disposal Squad had cleared the area after the first blast, declaring it was now safe.
However, a second explosion followed the first one after security forces left the area.
The injured, who were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, are known to include a police official, a Rangers official as well as three journalists.
Police and BDS officials surround the area, which also has an Imambargah located nearby.
Clash with suspected terrorists
Following the blasts in North Nazimabad and New Karachi, the Central Investigation Department (CID) acted on tip offs which resulted in an exchange of fire with suspected terrorists near Kati Pahari.
SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam told media that they had recovered large cache of weapons along with grenades and suicide vests. He added that the police also exchanged fire with suspected terrorists in which at least six militants were reportedly killed, while three police officers sustained injuries.
CID suggested that the suspects had links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Among those killed was Qari Khalil, who CID said was a local militant commander and was responsible for attacks on office of political parties in different parts of Karachi just before the May 2013 elections.
Shia Ulema Council condemn incident
The Shia Ulema Council condemned the blasts, demanding immediate action against the terrorists.
Allama Jaffar professed that Pahaar Ganj was a sensitive area where Shias had been targeted before.
Fear of renewed violence during Muharram has led the government to tighten security in all parts of the country including Karachi.
COMMENTS (13)
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Dhoom 1, 2, 3! next coming soon.
The Govt.,politicians,the mullahs are complicit in this Shia genocide.There is tacit agreement between all these heinous barbaric sub species.
I like Chaudry Aslam's take no prisoners approach, Kodoos to him, if only he could clone a couple of himself...
Whichever corner of the world we are sitting in, our hearts bleed at what has happened to our beloved city Karachi, may there be peace in the next two days ameen
" BDS had cleared the area after the first blast "....how and on what basis they cleared the area ? allowing people and rescuers / ambulance / media people etc; to venture again when second blast took place....this is not the first time such second blast took place....when are we going to learn from our mistakes ? somewhere, something is missing.....one thing is now very clear....we have no value for human lives....nor we have conscience....we are so shell-shocked that we have lost our bearing to think straight..? morally and spiritually.
Simple way is to do it safe is to gather in a empty ground outside Karachi. More space, full security, no mess, no closure of shops. It can be done near Super High way for example.
This so called Ulema can't term Sunnis terrorists.
@Syed A. Mateen: hahahaha...who is not of dubious character in krachi..?????or in the entire pakistan.
I like to ask the Mr Prime Minister Nawas Shareef if he care about the safety and lives of other states or he is just catering to his brother and his own constituency Punjab. he is the PM of whole Pakistan not just the well fed Punjab. I mean why all the Three Bomb Squad Equipment donated by UN were given to Punjab? Don't you see KHI and KPK... due to defiance to Taliban are worst hit by Bombs and took the brunt of killing by extremists comparable to only few in Punjab recently.
The Govt claims it is doing an operation and namaloom afraad continue to show the futility of Govt efforts.