Seven killed in two suicide blasts at Karachi shrine (Roundup)

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD - Around seven people were killed and over 60 injured Thursday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of an 8th century Sufi shrine in Karachi, authorities said.

The twin blasts occurred within an interval of minutes at the gate of Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s mausoleum in Clifton, where a large number of devotees gather every Thursday, Geo TV reported quoting DIG South, Iqbal Mehmood, and hospital sources.

Two heads believed to be of the bombers have been recovered from the blast site where severed limbs and human flesh lay scattered, sources said.

Head of Emergency, Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Seemi Jamali put the number of injured at 60, the report said.

The incident has occurred when President Asif Ali Zardari is in the city. The shrine is located not far from Bilawal House, the residence of Zardari.

Rangers and heavy contingents of police have arrived at the scene.

According to DPA, Zulfiqar Mirza, the interior minister of Sindh province - of which Karachi is the capital - said that six to seven people had died.

“There were two blasts and it seems that these were suicide bombings,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Mirza, the bombers set off their explosives at the main entrance while being searched by guards.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the attack and expressed grief and shock over the loss of human lives and injuries caused by the “heinous” act of terrorism.

“Such acts of terrorism cannot dent the government’s resolve to fight the menace of terrorism and militancy to the end,” Zardari was quoted as saying by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

The president said in his message that the attack on a sacred religious place and targetting the devotees clearly shows that terrorists have no respect or consideration for any religion and faith.

According to Geo TV, Prime Minister Gilani said: “Such heinous acts of violence are a reflection of deranged minds of terrorists who have no regard for humanity.

“These elements do not believe in any religion and only want to create disruption in the society,” the prime minister said in his message.