KARACHI: At least four people were killed and several others, including a senior government official, were injured when two separate blasts shook Karachi Saturday evening.
The first explosion took place shortly before sundown near Esa Nagri graveyard in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, close to the busy Hasan Square area.
Police said the bomb targeted the government vehicle of KMC Metropolitan Commissioner Matanat Ali Khan, police said.
“Apparently the bomb was planted in a motorcycle, eight people have been injured, condition of some of them is critical,” said Nasir Lodhi, a senior police official in Karachi.
Among the injured were Matanat Ali Khan and his guard, who later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Lodhi said the senior government official was the target “but motives and causes of the attack are yet to be investigated,” he said.
Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad later sought a report from the Inspector General of Sindh Police, who formed a team headed by the DIG Police East to investigate the incident.
Less than an hour later, an explosion ripped through the third storey of a building in the congested Patel Para neighbourhood, close to the center of the city. Three men were killed in the blast.
Bomb disposal officials said the explosion was the result of between five to six kilograms of explosive material, and that batteries, ball bearings and nails – common elements used in home-made bombs – was discovered from the scene.
Evidence gathered from the site suggested the three suspected terrorists were apparently killed when a bomb they were making accidentally exploded.
Police took into custody one of the injured men for further interrogation.
Karachi, a city of 18 million people, contributes 42 percent of Pakistan's GDP but is rife with murder and kidnappings and has been plagued for years by ethnic, sectarian and political violence.