Scavenger sets off ‘cracker’ bomb

Cracker blast injures three in the Garhi Shahu area of Lahore.

LAHORE:
Three people, including two minors, sustained injuries when a low intensity device exploded at a garbage heap near Davis Road in the Race Course police precinct at noon on Monday.

The explosive material blew up when it fell from the hands of a scavenger, Attock district resident Ahmed Shah who currently resides at Habibullah Road in Garhi Shahu. Police, with the aid of locals, arrested both Shah and his brother.

The low intensity cracker-type bomb exploded in a narrow street in a housing society located adjacent to Davis Road on the back of the Muslim League House. Shah collected waste items, including the bomb believing it to be a discarded machine component, from a garbage container lying on Davis Road.

Apparently, Shah then went inside the housing society and was sifting through some more garbage when the bomb slipped from his hands and exploded. Shah, onlookers said, sustained minor injuries.


Two sisters, Hadiqa, 4, and Hania, 2, who were standing on the terrace of their house also sustained minor injuries. The injured were provided with first aid on the spot.

Locals, upon hearing the blast, rushed out and captured Shah as he tried to make a run for it. Locals called the police and Race Course police district superintendent Pervez Butt reached the scene along with his team. Rescue 1122, Edhi Ambulances and the Bomb Disposal Squad also hurried to the location.

A senior police official said that during preliminary investigation, Shah said that he had collected the bomb from a garbage container placed near a media group’s office on Davis Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2010.
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