Officials claim such attacks are a signature tactic of extortionists .
According to the police, the house belonged to Mualam Khan, who has now been targeted twice in the past week. Previously, Mualam’s factory, which is adjacent to his house, was targeted by unidentified attackers. A police post near his house was also attacked when culprits hurled a hand grenade at it.
“It is a common tactic [for extortionists] if you don’t pay them the demanded money. They target your house with a low-intensity device just to harass you,” a police official told The Express Tribune. “We are still receiving information that Afghan SIMs are being used along with local SIMs registered on someone else’s name. And it has been an uphill task to track them down.”
An identical incident occurred last week when the main gate of another house was blown up in Hayatabad. Initially, it was thought to have happened due to a gas cylinder blowing up, but it was later learnt that an explosive device had been used.
The number of low-profile blasts have increased recently. The police on Monday defused a device packed with 700 grammes of explosives near the house of a local trader in Hayatabad.
There usually isn’t any loss of life in such incidents as the culprits do not want to kill their target, shared the police official. “They only mean to create panic.”
He added not only militants, but criminals are also involved in such attacks.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2013.
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