KARACHI: At least six people were killed while 30 others sustained injuries including 3 Shiites in an explosion near a Sunni Bralevi mosque on Chaudhry Khaliq uz Zaman Road in the Delhi Colony area of Clifton Town after a bus was targeted carrying Shia passengers on their way from a Shia Mosque ‘Masjid-wa-Imambargah Yasrab’ where Friday prayer was offered, The Shia Post reported.
Friday’s attack, which mostly missed its intended target, is the second within the past 24 hours. This latest attack took place on the main road outside a Sunni mosque in the upscale Defence neighborhood, just after Friday congregational prayers had ended and worshipers had started leaving.
“A bus carrying worshipers from a nearby Shiite mosque was the target,” said Raja Umar Khattab, chief of the Karachi police’s counter terrorism cell. “Fortunately, the timing was slightly off, otherwise the damage would have been much greater.”
According to initial reports from the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU), explosive material weighing eight to 10 kilogrammes was used, while the timed IED device was planted in a rickshaw, loaded with ball bearings and nut blots.
IG Sindh Iqbal Mehmood has said that Shia Muslims boarded in a bus were the target of the terrorists whose bomb blast in Karachi claimed lives of 6 persons including a woman on Friday.
According to police officials, the device exploded with a delay of a minute to a minute and a half.
The information minister Sharjeel Memon said that there had been an escalation in such incidents after theexpiry of ceasefire announced by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
According to reports, Lashkar-e-Jhagvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba have been given a huge target by Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) to kill innocent people above all Shiite Muslims.
Five auto rickshaws, ten vehicles and scores of motor cycles were destroyed as a result of the blast whereas the windows of several nearby buildings were left shattered.
They added that around the time of the explosion, a bus with employees of the official residence of the Sindh chief minister had left Masjid-i-Yasrab shortly after Friday prayers.
Security personnel also claimed to have taken two suspects into custody who were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.
According to initial reports, the blast took place near the location of a carpet showroom in the area which was situated between two mosques.
Other eyewitness reports said that the explosion occurred when people were leaving the mosques after offering Friday prayers.
The loud explosion was heard in adjoining areas of Clifton, Gizri and several phases of Defence Housing Authority.
Following the blast on Friday, both of the main political parties in Karachi, the Muttahida Quami Movement, and the Pakistan Peoples Party, which is also the main national opposition party, called on the central government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad to end its policy of holding peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban. The three attacks followed a few weeks of relative calm in Karachi.
“Now there should be action, there should be retaliation. We’ve had enough of these talks,” said Sharjeel Memon, the provincial information minister, from the Pakistan Peoples Party. “Before they used to be claims of responsibility for bombings, but now they just keep quiet.”
The Pakistani Taliban called off a six-week-long cease-fire earlier this month, but the central government continues to negotiate with the group and is considering releasing another batch of militant prisoners to bolster the dialogue.
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