One person was killed and five others were injured when alleged extortionists hurled a grenade in a cloth market in Kharadar, here on Thursday. The hand grenade exploded at Cochinwala cloth market, and is said to have been thrown by extortionists. Police and Rangers rushed to the scene while the injured were shifted to Civil Hospital.
Soon after the blast, many traders began protesting against the attack. Many of them claimed that the bigwigs of all markets in the Old City area have to pay to extortionists. They said the grenade attack came due to the refusal of president of the Cochinwala market association to pay to extortionists. They said that every shopkeeper in the area pays a daily extortion of fifty to hundred rupees, while the Old City area witnesses business activity worth billions of rupees every day. The identity of the dead who seemed to be a 50-year-old man has not yet been ascertained. Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal took notice of the attack and sought a detailed inquiry report from the deputy inspector general (DIG) South.