KARACHI, 5 April 2004 — Five policemen were killed and one was injured when unidentified men stormed a police station in Karachi and opened fire early yesterday morning.
The 10 attackers escaped with one of their number injured after the assault on the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police station near Karachi Airport.
Karachi’s Deputy Inspector General of Police Tariq Jamil said identified the dead policemen as Sub Inspector Umeed Ali and constables Sarfaraz Ali, Muhammad Ismail, Muhammad Ishfaq and George.
Police said the gunmen arrived in three cars. “They first abused the policemen and said that none of them will be spared and then opened fire from three sides. Bullets also hit an adjacent mosque, where people were offering Fajr prayers,” said Sindh provincial police chief Kamal Shah.
The constable returned fire and injured one of the attackers.
Jamil said the motive and affiliations of the attackers were not known, but they might have been angry over the recent crackdown on militant groups in the port city.
Authorities later recovered a vehicle that had been abandoned by the attackers after they fled, Shah said. A banker from whom the car had been stolen was able to provide a description of the men who took it, he said.
Authorities stepped up security at police stations around Karachi.
On Saturday, the chief of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi) Afaq Ahmed was arrested in Karachi. The government said he was picked up from a bungalow in upscale Defense neighborhood, but Ahmed’s party disputed it, saying he was arrested with two other party officials in Gulshan-e-Iqbal district. The Haqiqi leader faces at least 87 criminal cases.
A city of 14 million, Karachi has seen a series of attacks by in recent years.
On March 15, police defused a huge bomb outside the US Consulate in Karachi, minutes before it was set to explode. Police have not announced the arrests of any suspects.
A suicide bomber blew up a truck in front of the consulate in June 2002, killing 14 Pakistanis. In April 2002, a bomb aimed at the motorcade of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a vital ally in the US war on terrorism, failed to detonate as he traveled through Karachi.
