A powerful bomb blast during maghrib prayers in Imam Ali Reza Imambargah at M. A. Jinnah Road here on Monday killed at least 18 and injured more than 35 namazis, police and hospital sources said.
Spokesman of Pasban-e-Aza, S. M. Haider, who is also associated with the affairs of the ill-fated Imambargah, has claimed that there were more than 25 dead and over 100 severely injured.
The dead and the injured were taken to Civil Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical centre, Liaquat National Hospital, Aga Khan Hospital and to a few nearby medical centres. Names of the victims could not be ascertained immediately as hospital and police personnel were busy in providing medical and security services to the victim of the blast.
The intensity of the blast was so severe that it tore apart bodies into pieces and splattered limbs that either stuck to the ceiling of the Imambargah or flew out of its premises. Edhi ambulances and volunteers collected body parts of the dead and the injured and took them to hospitals.
More than 40 Edhi Ambulances were sent to the spot, Edhi Sources said.
Dr Seemi Jamali of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical centre, where some of the dead and injured were taken, said that those who were brought to the hospital were either completely charred bodies or were severely burnt people. "The injured were in serious condition and had suffered 30 percent to 40 percent burns," she added.
Immediately after the news of the blast protestors took to the streets and attacked public transport, burnt a number of cars and motorcycles. They also stormed shops and nearby buildings.
The violence did not confine to the place of incident but spread to many parts of the city.
At the Grumandir roundabout, Business Recorder Road, all shops closed down for fear of damage of properties and lives. Reports from Haidry Market, North Nazimabad, Gulbahar, Liaquatabad revealed that all life in these localities had come to a halt.
In the meanwhile Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad had condemned the act of terrorism and termed the situation in the city as "grim".
Sindh Adviser on home affairs, Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, said that it was not possible to say whether the blast was an act of suicide bomber or a bomb attack.
Sindh Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammed Khan Mahar has termed the situation as grim and had asked the law enforcement agencies to contain the lawlessness.
In the meantime President General Pervez Musharraf has said that stringent measures would have to be taken to correct the situation in Karachi.
Sindh IGP Syed Kamal Shah told a private TV channel that information about the terrorists was being collected and it would be premature to say who did it.
He said that after the bomb blast, violence spread on M. A. Jinnah Road, Purani Numaish, Abbas Town near Sohrab Goth, Super Highway, Ancholi Society Malir Colony and Shah Faisal Town.
He said that in Ancholi society where youth pelted stones on a crowd and resorted to firing grew strained and police had to resort to tear gas shelling to disperse the crowd. However, the overall situation in "these localities" was tense, he added.
The IGP said that police and rangers force had been strengthened in the worst affected areas and the situation was returning to normal.
According to a private TV channel, two men who had hijacked an Edhi Ambulance had been shot dead by the rangers.
Whereas, the IGP has that he has received a report that an ambulance has been snatched in Soldier Bazar area and is being used for firing and other criminal activities. "After a brief encounter rangers have recovered the ambulance and taken into custody one injured person from the ambulance".
He said that the hijackers had fired on police and rangers' picket from this ambulance.
IGP said that police and the rangers had tried to control the situation only by means of tear gas shelling and lathi charge.
Business Recorder once again came under attack. Miscreants set a bus on fire, damaged a taxi and a few motorcycles outside the office, but the timely arrival of the rangers averted the situation from becoming bad to worse.
Ulema belonging to different school of thoughts have called upon the people to maintain peace in the city and let all design to pit Shia and Sunni sects against each other fail.
But they have criticised the government for its failure to provide security to religious places. They termed the successive acts of terrorism in Karachi as unfortunate and failure of the government to deal with the acts of terrorism.
This was the fifth dastardly act of terrorism in the city.
On May 7 a suicide bomber had killed at least 24 and wounded more than 125 namazi in a Shai Mosque, Haidri Masjid inside Sindh Madrasatul Islam. Another blast on May 25 at the gates of Karachi Port Trust had killed one and wounded three.
The third blast took place outside the Pakistan American Cultural center on May 27 which claimed one life and injured 33 people, most of them press photographers.
The fourth incident on May 30, gunmen assassinated Religious scholar Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai a few yards away from Jamia Binnoria in Jamshed Town area.
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