4 dead, dozens injured in Karachi blasts

ISLAMABAD (PAN Navy officials were killed and dozens wounded in two consecutive back-to-back bomb attacks on their buses in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, officials said.

In the first assault, a bus carrying naval staff was targeted in the Defence area of the sprawling city by a suicide bomber, who crashed his motorbike into the vehicle, police officer Amjad Ali told Pajhwok Afghan News.

One naval officer and a lady doctor were killed in the blast that wounded 37 others, eight of them critically, he said. The bombing occurred near the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Pakistan’s commercial hub at 7.20 am.

Minutes later, another bus of naval official came under bomb attack in Baldia Town, killing two officers and injuring 19 others, Ali said. The victims were under medical treatment at different hospitals.

Sindh Governor Qaim Ali Shah said they had received intelligence reports about the attacks. A commission had been set up to investigate the incidents, he told an emergency meeting on the security situation.

Provincial police chief, Fayyaz Leghari called the first incident a suicide attack and the second a remotely-controlled bomb blast. He said the blasts killed four people and wounded more than 50.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attacks, saying that they could not weaken the resolve of the nation and its armed forces to curb the scourge of militancy and extremism.

am/mud

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