Suicide attack at Rangers building kills three in Karachi
By: Saher Baloch
KARACHI: Militants rammed an explosives-laden truck into the main gate of the Sachal Rangers headquarters in Block B of North Nazimabad here on Thursday morning, killing three people and injuring 22.
A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. Those killed in the attack were identified as Lance Naik Khalid Mehmood and Sepoys Abdul Razzaq and Imran Wali.
All the three victims died in hospital — Lance Naik Mehmood at the PNS Shifa and the two sepoys at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.Around 16 of the injured were also taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.A majority of those injured were personnel of the Rangers.
The attack took place at around 6:55am. Some eyewitnesses said they had seen a Shehzore truck speeding towards the main gate of the Sachal Rangers Headquarters.
“Before any of us could react, the truck hit a tree in the main compound and exploded,” said Muneeb Khalil, 45, who was being treated at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for the injuries he had sustained in the blast.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban in a statement issued in the evening claimed responsibility for the attack on the Rangers Headquarters, vowing that such attacks “will continue in the future as well”.
TTP spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said that the attack was carried out to punish the Rangers for “harassing our men”, according to some media reports.The DIG West, Javed Odho, said that around 140 kilograms of explosives had been used in the blast which completely destroyed the two-storey building of the Rangers headquarters.
The blast was heard as far as Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e- Jauhar and the Korangi Crossing areas in a radius of roughly around 20 kilometers.“The militants hit the residential area of the complex,” he said. When he was asked about the responsibility claimed by the TTP, DIG Odho said, “We are prepared for the worst.”
Speaking about the incident, the Inspector-General of Police, Sindh, Fayyaz Leghari, said that they had received a report about the “regrouping of terrorists” in the city prior to the incident. However, he did not say much about security measures taken after that report.
Ranger’s representatives refused to speak to the media and did not let anyone go near the site of the blast.The Interior Ministry had warned of attacks on the personnel of the security forces some three weeks back, but the police officers said that the information provided to them was “not specific” and it was “vague”.
The attack comes two years after a suicide blast at the CID office in the city, killing 20 people and injuring 200 others.The SSP of CID, Chaudhry Aslam, whose house had been attacked last September, said, “The tactics used in carrying out the attack [on Thursday] is similar to the ones used to target my house [last year] and the CID building [in November 2010].”
He surmised that the TTP was behind the attack on Thursday. SSP Aslam has been repeatedly saying in his interviews that the TTP is the “biggest threat to Karachi”. SSP Aslam said, “We arrested their workers many a times. And this fight is definitely not over.”
In a hastily called meeting attended by senior police officials soon after the incident, IGP Fayyaz Leghari presented an outline of the security plan for the month of Muharram. The first and foremost thing on the agenda was to beef up security as Leghari asked the Special Branch, the CID and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to share intelligence and to speed up targeted operations in the ghettos across the city.
The IGP also ordered officials to check the many guest houses around the city and to report any suspicious activities.Meanwhile, police detained three people and later let them go after having interrogated them for several hours.
The three men were questioned because they had owned the truck used in the suicide attack one time or the other, said an officer on condition of anonymity.
Mushtaq Yusufzai adds from Peshawar: The Afghanistan-based Maulana Fazlullah-led Pakistani Taliban Thursday claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Rangers Headquarters and termed it revenge for the alleged detention and torture of the militants from Swat in Karachi.
“We are proud to announce that we have carried out a successful suicide attack on Rangers’ Headquarters in Karachi on Thursday. It was revenge for the arrests, torture and subsequent killing of our people in Karachi by the Rangers and police,” the spokesman for the Swat Taliban Sirajuddin Ahmad told this correspondent on phone from somewhere in Afghanistan.
Sirajuddin said the suicide bomber had planted 90 mounds explosives in a vehicle and rammed it into the building where the Rangers Headquarters is housed. He alleged that the Rangers and police had been involved in arrest of the Taliban militants and other people who went from Swat and other parts of the Malakand region to work in Karachi.
He maintained that the police and Rangers tortured the militants and common people in their secret cells and forced them to pay them. “The Rangers and police officials force our people and other innocent Pakhtuns, particularly those belonging to Swat and other areas in the Malakand region and settled in Karachi to pay them for their release. Those who cannot pay are tortured and later handed over to the security forces in Swat and the security personnel kill them after severe torture,” the Taliban spokesman alleged.
He said they had mentioned before that their fighters were present in Karachi and other urban centres of the country and could strike any time. “We have carried out a number of attacks in Karachi in the past but never claimed responsibility for these assaults. It was our first suicide attack in Karachi and will continue to target such installations in future as well,” he threatened.
The Swat Taliban fighters had taken refuge in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces after they were ousted from Swat and other parts of the Malakand region as a result of military operation launched in 2009.
President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the suicide attack at the Rangers Headquarters.The president expressed his sympathies and sorrow on the loss of lives in this incident.
In his message, the president prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls and grant courage to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude.The president directed the concerned authorities to provide best medical facilities to the injured.He reiterated commitment of the government to continue fighting the menace of militancy.
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