A rchive Date
[ 14-06-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Pakistan ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/bomb_jun14-ap.html
Explosion outside U.S. Consulate kills seven
Friday, Jun. 14, 2002
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide attacker crashed a bomb-laden car into a guard post of the U.S. Consulate compound in Karachi on Friday, blowing a huge hole in the consulate's heavy concrete wall and leaving seven people dead and at least 25 others injured.
The massive blast incinerated a dozen cars, including two police vehicles, down to their frames and sent debris flying more than half a kilometre away.
Police said the bomb was concealed in a white car that the driver crashed into a police kiosk at the southern end of the consulate at 11:08 a.m. local time, leaving a hole about three metres wide in the building's heavy concrete wall. It also damaged the nearby Marriott Hotel and shattered windows in other buildings a block away in the sprawling southern port city.
Sharif Ajnabi, a private security guard, was sitting in a large public park across the street from the consulate when the bomb went off.
"I heard a deafening explosion," he said. "There was smoke everywhere. It was not easy to see what was happening across the road. Moments later, I saw a man's body flying in the air, and fell near me. He was badly injured. Before we could give him water or medical help, he died. It was a horrifying scene."
Witnesses said marines automatically closed the entrances to the building and took up protective positions. U.S. officials at the scene would not comment.
A man who answered the consulate phone would only say: "I can't tell you anything right now."
Witnesses reported seeing body parts scattered about the scene, including some in Bagh Jinnah Park across the street, that police said came from the bomber. At least one of the dead was a Pakistani embassy guard in plainclothes.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene, and ambulances were shuttling the injured to nearby hospitals. Police sealed off streets in the normally quiet area, which always is heavily guarded, with even the sidewalk in front of the consulate blocked off and barricades shunting traffic away from lanes adjacent to the building.
What appeared to be part of the bomb car was stuck in a small water fountain, while other bits were stuck in trees.
"Preliminary investigation revealed it was a car bomb from a moving vehicle which slammed into the pavement," Karachi Police Chief Komal Shah said.
The consulate is on Abdullah Harroon Road between the Marriott and the State Guesthouse.
Violence against foreigners by Islamic militants has increased since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf threw his support behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and murdered in Karachi in January, while working on a story about Islamic militants.
Suicide bombings - once unheard of here - have occurred twice. Both attacks were believed carried out by al-Qaida.
On March 17, a suicide grenade attack at a church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave killed five people, including two Americans.
Last month, 11 French engineers and three others were killed in a suicide attack in front of a Karachi hotel about 1.5 kilometres from Friday's blast.
The United States withdrew all nonessential personnel after the church bombing and the British mission evacuated about 150 staff in late May after receiving "credible" information about a terrorist assault.
Also, in early June a diplomatic source said several hundred foreigners working for the United Nations in Pakistan were ordered to send their families home because of fears of a war between India and Pakistan.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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