No CCTV evidence in Karachi blast, says official

ISLAMABAD - It would be difficult to track down the suspects in the Karachi port city blast Thursday that killed 19 people because electricity supply to the bombed police station was disconnected and there was no CCTV footage, an official said Saturday.

Authorities Saturday, however, issued sketches of two suspects piecing together the information from eye-witnesses. They include a youngster of around 22 years of age and another man in his mid-30s, who were amongst the 10 terrorists who attacked the Karachi police station that housed the targeted criminal investigation department (CID) office.

Inspector General Sindh Police Salahuddin Babar Khattak said “the attackers came on two motorbikes and one SUV jeep. They fired from two sides before carrying out the blast”.

Ahmad Chinoy, chief of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC)of Karachi, said: “The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) had disconnected the electricity of the CID police station a day before the blast, which meant that the CCTV cameras were not working when the explosion took place.”

“The lack of evidence in the form of CCTV footage has made it difficult for police authorities to find any clue about the suspected terrorists,” he said.

KESC spokesperson Ayesha Arabi, however, denied the claim and said the power supply was restored shortly afterwards.

Banned militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for the high-intensity attack, which also left over 140 people injured.

As many as 170 nearby houses were damaged in the attack while some offices situated on the same road have developed cracks.

The residents and the families of police officials killed in the blast are sitting at the debris and no alternative shelter has been provided to them as yet.

At least eight police officials patrolling the area were killed in the blast and the Sindh government has announced Rs.two million each and a plot in recognition of their sacrifice.

There have been reports in the media that six suspects arrested a couple of days before the blast for having links with Lashkar-i-Jhangvi were missing since the deadly suicide attack.

“The arms and ammunition of the police officials on duty as well as the suicide jackets recovered from the terrorists are also not being found,” a media report said.

“The exact situation will only be known after the removal of rubble,” said Javed Akram, superintendent of Sadar police.

Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza said: “We are in a state of war and such attacks should not deter us from our resolve to fight extremism.”

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah visited the blast site Saturday and said the terrorists could not entirely succeed in their designs after being stopped at the check-post. He said the new CID office will be built somewhere else instead of the busy downtown location.

An FIR has been registered against unknown attackers while the evidence collected initially has been sent to forensic lab.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)