Four security personnel among 26 injured in Karachi bomb blast

Karachi, Dec.27 (ANI): At least 26 people, including four security personnel were injured in a bomb blast, which targeted a Muharram procession here.

The blast occurred soon after the procession passed the Khilafat Chowk in Karachi's North Nazimabad Town.

Initial investigations suggested that the bomb, which weighed around half a kilogramme, was triggered-off by a remote controlled device.

"Twenty-six people, including two rangers personnel and two policemen were wounded and taken to hospital. Six of them have been discharged while others may be released soon," The Daily Times quoted Karachi City Police Officer, Waseem Ahmed, as saying.

Ahmed said that the bomb was planted near by car parked on the procession route.

Security has been beefed up across the city following the incident.

None of the extremist groups have claimed the responsibility for the blast, however, Sindh Police CID SSP Fayyaz Khan said that the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and other anti-Shia elements might have carried out the attack.

It is pertinent to mention here that intelligence officials had warned that scores of militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) have entered Karachi to wreak havoc in the city during Muharram.

According to the officials, the militants who, until now, were fighting in the tribal areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Waziristan have now sneaked into Karachi to evoke sectarian violence in the commercial capital.

"They plan to carry out suicide bombings and target killings.

These terrorists want to show their strength to the law enforcers and intelligence agencies, and they also want to take revenge of the killings of their leaders and workers in the last couple of months in the city," a senior police official had said earlier. (ANI)