KARACHI, 16 March 2004 — Two days before the visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Pakistan, authorities yesterday defused a huge car bomb minutes before it was to explode in front of the US Consulate here.
“If this were to explode, it would have caused massive destruction,” Karachi bomb squad officer Munir Ahmed Sheikh said.
The vehicle, a Suzuki van that contained a 750-liter drum filled with chemicals including ammonium nitrate and detonators, was towed away from the consulate to a nearby sports ground, where bomb disposal experts defused it five minutes before it was timed to go off, police said. One of the experts suffered a slight injury to his hand as he removed the timer and detonator from the tank.
Officials said a paramilitary ranger guarding the consulate had spotted the van which a man parked about five meters (16 feet) from its perimeter wall. Before he could be questioned, the man was picked up by a car that sped away.
Police said the vehicle had a government number plate and it was snatched from Muneeb Tariq of Baloch Colony on Sunday evening. The real number plate of the vehicle was replaced with a government number plate.
Hundreds of policemen and paramilitary troops cordoned off the consulate, on Fatima Jinnah Road in an upscale Karachi neighborhood, and checked the area for additional explosives. The building is surrounded by high walls and lies about 15 meters (40 feet) from the road.
Andrew Steinfeld, the counselor for public affairs at the US Embassy in Islamabad, said the bomb was discovered between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m,. before most of the consulate’s two dozen American and Pakistani staff had arrived for work. “There was a bomb found in a truck in the early morning. Police removed it and Pakistani authorities are investigating,” he said. After the bomb was found, the consulate was closed for the day, and it was not clear when it would reopen. Steinfeld said the embassy in Islamabad remained open and staff were still preparing for Powell’s visit, which the Pakistani government announced would go ahead as scheduled. Senior investigator Fayyaz Leghari said 14 seconds of video footage from surveillance cameras at the consulate showed a man dressed in a traditional Pakistani tunic park the van close to the perimeter wall at 7:14 a.m., then step into a car following close behind. “We could not see the face of the suspect,” he said.
