Seven people hurt in grenade attack in Lyari

Police believe attackers meant to target PPP leaders, who remained unhurt

KARACHI: Over half a dozen people were wounded while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders remained unhurt in a hand grenade attack in Lyari on Friday. This was the second consecutive attack in Lyari in the last couple of days, the first occurring last night.

On Friday, armed men riding a motorcycle threw a hand grenade near the water pumping station located near Khadda Market at Shah Waliullah Road within the limits of the Baghdadi police station. The incident took place after Friday prayers when the residents of the area were filling water from the pumping station. PPP local leaders, including Hashim Baloch and Aslam Sammu, were also sitting at an office at the pumping station. The armed assailants, however, managed to escape. As a result of the explosion, nearly seven people, most of them belonging to the Kutchi community, were wounded while the PPP leaders remained unhurt in the attack.

The injured included Rafiq, 25, Ayub, 45, Tahir, 30, Aslam, 50, Qurban, 45 and Ibrahim, 20. The injured people were immediately taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi, for treatment. Law enforcers including the police and Rangers also reached the site and inquired about the incident. Police officials, while quoting the initial investigation, said that the PPP leaders were the actual target of the assailants and that members of a Lyari-based gang were behind the incident.

Most of the injured belonged to the Kutchi community. Following the incident, a large number of people staged a protest while the shopkeepers in the area also shut down their businesses. The protesters shouted slogans against the law enforcers.

This was the second attack in Lyari in the last couple of days. A police officer of the Baghdadi police station, Muhammad Iqbal, said that the members of the Sheraz Comrade group of Lyari's Uzair Baloch gang were behind the incident. He said that apparently, the group's aim was to create hurdles for PPP leaders in their preparations for the upcoming local bodies' elections. A case has been registered against the Sheraz Comrade group while further investigations are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2015.