2 killed, 14 injured in explosion targeting Karachi police bus

TTP claim responsibility for attack, Karachi police chief says personnel were the way to Bilawal House for duty

KARACHI: Two policemen were killed and 14 others sustained injuries in an explosion in Karachi’s Landhi area Friday morning, Express News reported.

The blast - which Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for  - took place near the bus of police’s Special Security Unit (SSU).

The injured were immediately taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), while security forces cordoned off the area. JPMC spokesperson Seemi Jamali confirmed two bodies and 14 injured were brought to the hospital.

"Two policemen were killed and 14 other people including two civilians were injured when a bomb planted on a motorbike was blown up as a police van was passing by," police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo told AFP.

He said the elite squad that guards VIPs was on the way to guard Bilawal House, the residence of former president Asif Ali Zardari.

A bomb disposal squad also swept the neighbourhood for other explosives.

The SSU was recently handed over the security of city’s sensitive areas following two blasts which killed five people including two personnel of the law enforcement agencies.

Security forces have been suffering reprisal attacks in return cracking down on criminal and militant activities since late 2013.

The PM strongly condemned the bomb attack and the killing of security personnel in Loralai district of Balochistan a day earlier.