Roadside blast in the Pirabad area of Orangi Town,Karachi.
PHOTO:Express/MOHAMMAD NOMAN
The explosion was heard in various areas of Karachi, unsettling a city already on edge in the wake of MQM chief Altaf Hussain's arrest and subsequent reactions of aerial firing and protests.
According to the police, the blast occurred outside the Jama-e-Mustafa mosque in Qasba Colony, in the limits of Pirabad police station. The bomb was placed inside a rickshaw that was parked on a road near the mosque.
DIG West Capt (retd.) Tahir Naveed, while speaking to The Express Tribune, confirmed the casualties, and said, “Initial investigation shows that the bomb was an Improvised Explosive Device fitted in the rickshaw. He added that the police also found a hand grenade from the blast site, which was then defused.
The bomb disposal squad of the Sindh police is further searching the site and collecting evidence. The DIG said that the blast did not take place exactly outside the mosque, but fairly close to it.
The injured have been shifted to the Abbassi Shaheed Hospital.
Earlier, Express News reported that the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) had claimed that two of its workers were killed in the blast, while five were injured.
This post will be updated as developments come in.
COMMENTS (6)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Imran Khan says the attack is of great concern, there should be treason case against him to allow Taliban to open their offices in Pakistan. Is he with Taliban or Pakistanis? IK never condemns Taliban its supporters should understand that blood is on their hands too.
@zaida p: When there is a will, there is a way When there is no will, there is no way..
Pakistanis need to learn to be tolerant to other sects, political and religious bodies around them. Unfortunately, extremists insist that everyone in the world should follow them.. Unless we change the mindset, peace is far away from us..
@zaida p: I guess you don't read about other places very much then - the turmoil is all over the Muslim world including Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Uzbekistan etc. The good thing is that Pakistan has underwent its first democratic transition of government and has developing institutions. This puts it ahead of most Muslim nations. The people of Pakistan are resilient and hard working which is why world economic analysts are positive about its economy. Also, the good thing is that statistically violent attacks are down in Pakistan - also drone attacks are down too.
@zaida p: For money & power Politics and Violence is used around the globe. You just have to amass enough people who want this gone and it will be gone, believe me. Just, please, don't start your own militant wing to handle violence. Well, you can't avoid that in a backward country, can you? So now we are back to square one, aren't we?
@zaida p: There is a method in madness. Pakistanis should wake up to the real danger from across the Arabian Gulf . It happened to other countries in this decade.
All you read about is death and destruction in pakistan. How long can this go on for? There is no solution in sight.