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India-Pakistan

Thousands of troops, police guard violence-hit Karachi streets

2008-04-11

About 20,000 security personnel were deployed to patrol the streets, check vehicles and guard courthouses, schools and markets in Karachi, City Police chief Niaz Siddiqui told the AP news agency. Police had arrested three armed men in connection with the unrest, he said. Death toll: A victim of Wednesday’s violence in Karachi died in hospital on Thursday, increasing the death toll to 10. Advocate Shehryar died of haemorrhaging during treatment at Civil Hospital, Police surgeon Dr Bashir Sheikh said. He said 29 people injured in the unrest were being treated in hospitals. The city remained peaceful on Thursday and police registered three separate cases regarding the Tahir Plaza arson and the clash between lawyers at the city courts.

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India-Pakistan

Qari Saifullah released. detained

2008-03-27

Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the only person arrested in connection with the October 18 attack on Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming rally, has been re-detained hours after his release on Wednesday. Sources in the Sindh Home Department said that Akhtar had been re-detained for alleged links to a conspiracy against Benazir by an army group led by Maj Gen Zaheerul Islam in 1995. Karachi Police chief Niaz Siddiqui confirmed the re-detention, saying the orders were issued by the Home Department. Akhtar was released on bail, when the police could not provide sufficient evidence against him.

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India-Pakistan

Religious leader, three killed in Karachi explosion

2006-07-15

KARACHI - A Pakistani Shiite religious leader and three others were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the port city of Karachi. Allama Hassan Turrabi, his nephew and two police guards were taken to hospital after sustaining serious injuries in the attack. However, Turrabi and his nephew later died of their injuries, regional Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui confirmed. Earlier, Karachi’s chief of police, Niaz Siddiqui, told reporters a suicide bomber, who had strapped explosives to his body, blew himself up as Turrabi arrived at his house in Abbas. A child was also killed in the attack. Siddiqui said that the attacker’s head and both legs were lying at the scene of the blast, adding, that police had found a hand grenade, which had not detonated. The attacker is believed to have carried the grenade, but had been unable to hurl it over Turrabi’s vehicle, the official added. Turrabi was the leader of the six-party Islamic opposition alliance, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital chanting anti- government slogans. Turrabi’s body was being transferred to a Shiite mosque in Karachi.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan arrests two over US consulate bombing

2006-05-04

KARACHI - Pakistani police have arrested two people over a deadly suicide bombing at the US consulate in the southern city of Karachi in March, a provincial governor said. The blast on March 2 killed five people including an American diplomat a day before US President George W. Bush visited the country, a key ally in Washington’s “war on terror”. “We have got two” people in custody in connection with the attack, Ishratul Ibad, the governor of Sindh province told AFP in an interview late Wednesday at his official residence in Karachi. He said they were being questioned about their links to the bombing, but did not elaborate on their identities or on any group that they might be affiliated with. The bomber had not yet been identified, he added. The governor said Pakistani authorities were still investigating a recent statement purportedly by Al-Qaeda that claimed responsibility for the attack, but said the claim was ”questionable”. “That needs to be carefully checked. There is one common sense reason that claim is questionable because it is a long time after the attack,” Ibad said. “We have kept all options open.” The Internet statement, signed “Al Qaeda, of the Afghanistan Jihad (holy war)”, also promised a “summer of hell” for US troops in Afghanistan. “Dozens of suicide operations have been carried out in Pakistan and Afghanistan within the large Al-Qaeda campaign against Zionists and Crusaders, including the attack against the US consulate in Karachi a day before the arrival of the biggest Crusader (Bush),” it said. Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui said earlier this week that he seriously doubted the authenticity of the claim. No organisation had previously claimed responsibility for the blast, the latest in a series of attacks on the US consulate. A suicide car bomb outside the building in June 2002 killed 12 Pakistanis.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistanis investigating al-Qaeda claim on consulate bombing

2006-05-02

Pakistani police said Monday they would investigate a statement purportedly from Al-Qaeda which claimed a deadly suicide bombing in March, but cast doubt on its authenticity. The bombing on March 2 killed five people including an American diplomat in the southern city of Karachi just before US President George W. Bush visited the country. An Internet statement, signed “Al Qaeda, of the Afghanistan Jihad (holy war)”, promised a “summer of hell” for US troops in Afghanistan. “Dozens of suicide operations have been carried out in Pakistan and Afghanistan within the large Al-Qaeda campaign against Zionists and Crusaders, including the attack against the US consulate in Karachi a day before the arrival of the biggest Crusader (Bush),” it said. The statement vowed that 2006 “would be decisive and that this summer would be hell for Crusader soldiers and their agents among the renegades.” Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui said the claim came almost two months after the attack. “I seriously doubt the authenticity of the claim,” he told AFP. He said an investigation into the attack was continuing but no major clues had been yet found. “Investigators will look into the statement but serious doubts are there over its authenticity.” No organisation had previously claimed responsibility for the March 2 attack. A month later, in another suicide bomb blast during a religious gathering in Karachi, more than 50 people were killed.

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India-Pakistan

Prominent Pakistan cleric survives life attempt

2006-04-06

KARACHI, April 6 (Reuters) - A prominent Pakistani Shi'ite Muslim cleric survived an assassination attempt on Thursday when his car was hit by a remote-controlled bomb in the restive southern city of Karachi, police said. They said that cleric Allama Hassan Turabi was unhurt in the attack but one of his guards and a passerby were wounded. The bomb, concealed in a cart, exploded as soon as Turabi's car crossed a bridge in the eastern district of the sprawling city, said Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui. "I think it was a targeted attack, and we are investigating," Siddiqui told Reuters. Sectarian violence is not uncommon in Pakistan, where more than 100 people have been killed in tit-for-tat attacks by militants from majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite Muslim sects in the past year. Most of the victims have been Shi'ite Muslims, who account for about 15 percent of a Pakistan's predominantly Sunni population of 150 million.

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India-Pakistan

Karachi bomb blast update: Mysterious wires found embedded in Foy's body

2006-03-07

KARACHI: The FBI has acquired the medico legal records and postmortem reports of the four bodies of the victims of the March 2 bomb blast at the US Consulate, Daily Times learnt on Monday. Members of the FBI team discussed the postmortem details with two local doctors, who are the medico legal officers in the case. While only the upper half of US diplomat David Foy's body was retrieved from the scene of the crime and has one arm missing, the postmortem has yielded some results. Foy's left foot has been discovered also. Foy's remains were flown home where it is believed that a second postmortem will be conducted. The FBI made an unexpected discovery, however, from the parts of Foy's body that were retrieved. According to the local postmortem, they were embedded with small wires. Only Foy's body bears this evidence. These wires are normally found in car tires but this has yet to be confirmed. The FBI also discussed the remains of the suicide bomber. It is believed that his scalp was found in two parts with both ears attached. However, as the measurements of the two ears differ by 0.5 cm the doctors have yet to confirm that they belonged to one person. The parts of the suicide bomber's body are not in a condition that makes it easy for them to be identified. The prints of one finger, which the police believe belonged to the attacker, have been badly damaged which is why NADRA faces an uphill task identifying it. The finger is being forensically treated so that prints can be lifted. "We are 100 percent sure that the finger belongs to the attacker but up till now we have not been able to ascertain whether it belonged to his left or right hand," said CCPO Niaz Siddiqui while talking to Daily Times on Monday. "But we are waiting for NADRA's final report but it did admit that lifting the prints was proving difficult." Almost all parts of the driver Iftikhar Ahmed's body have been recovered and identified except for his head. Rangers sepoy Zafar's body has been the least affected by the blast but has been burnt more than the others. Sources said that the CC camera footage has revealed that a white Toyota Corolla, the same at the attacker's car, was also reportedly part of the operation. This second car was traveling in front of Foy's vehicle before it turned into the Marriott road. However, it slowed down deliberately, thereby forcing Iftikhar to slow down also, which apparently gave the suicide bomber enough time to put his car in reverse and remain ready for the diplomat's vehicle.

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India-Pakistan

Karachi bomber sketch being prepared

2006-03-04

Police are preparing a sketch of a suicide car bomber who struck outside a US consulate in Pakistan, killing a US diplomat and three other people, a police official said yesterday. US authorities have named the two consulate staff killed in the explosion in downtown Karachi on Thursday as David Foy, a facilities maintenance officer, and his Pakistani driver Iftikhar Ahmed. Another 52 people were also injured by the blast. Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui said investigators were preparing a sketch of the bomber based on surveillance camera images from the consulate and neighboring Marriott Hotel, as well as eyewitness accounts of survivors. Another police investigator said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the probe that footage from the closed-circuit cameras revealed the bomber to be a man in his 30s with a trim beard. The bomber parked a white Toyota Corolla sedan in a street linking the consulate with the hotel which is commonly used as additional hotel parking space, he said. In the footage, the bomber is seen arguing with a paramilitary soldier seconds before he rammed his car into Foy's sports utility vehicle as it drove by, the official said. The bomber's car had a falsified chassis number and stolen license plates, the official said. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told Pakistan's Geo television yesterday that the consu-late's security camera revealed the bomber parked his car 20 minutes before he reversed into Foy's SUV.

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