Police clueless about bomb attack on SSU bus

Senior official believes same groups behind both attacks on SSU buses.

KARACHI: Police claim to have detained around 20 suspects in a desperate attempt for information that would help in the investigations of the deadly bomb attack on the van transporting commandos of the Special Security Unit (SSU).

At least two SSU commandos were killed while 15 other personnel as well as two passersby were wounded when an explosives-laden motorcycle slammed into the van transporting the SSU personnel to Bilawal House, where they are deployed for security duty.

Police have obtained the footage recorded in the SSU vehicle's camera, which shows how the blast actually occurred. The video shows how as soon as the bus reached a motorcycle parked on the roadside, the bomb exploded. The camera could not, however, capture who had parked the motorcycle at the site. Investigators have also obtained the CCTV footage recorded by the cameras installed at a nearby franchise of a cell phone service provider. The footage does not, however, provide any more clues. "Nothing important was found in the footages," Shah Latif SHO Arshad Awan told The Express Tribune. "We have, however, detained around 20 suspects from the surroundings of the blast site to get any possible clues but there has not been any progress yet."

Sources privy to the investigation told The Express Tribune that the same group responsible for the previous attack on the SSU bus may be behind this one too. In February 2014, at least 13 commandos were killed and several others were wounded when an explosive-laden vehicle had struck the SSU van soon after it had left the training centre for Bilawal House. The two suspects allegedly involved in the previous attack were killed in a police encounter in Quaidabad in January, earlier this year. Though the police claimed to have killed the two suspects, they have been unable to trace the masterminds.

Meanwhile, an FIR No. 133/15 under Sections 302, 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section ¾ of the Explosives Act and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act has been registered on behalf of one of the injured commandos against unidentified persons at the Shah Latif police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.