KARACHI, 9 August 2004 — Two bombs ripped through an Islamic school yesterday in Pakistan, killing eight and injuring 42 in the latest outbreak of violence gripping the southern port city of Karachi, officials said.
The blasts went off near a restaurant on the grounds of Jamia Binoria, a Sunni Muslim seminary where thousands of teenagers and young adults study, said Fayyaz Leghari, a senior Karachi police officer.
There was no claim of responsibility.
Eight people died and 42 others were injured, Leghari said. Some were Jamia Binoria students, but no casualty breakdown was available.
“The target was the general public and students. The aims was to create chaos,” Leghari said.
One of the dead was a child who had been passing by with his parents, said Iqrar Abbasi, a doctor at Civil Hospital Karachi.
Seminary spokesman Ghulam Rabbani said there were two explosions — the first apparently intended to draw a crowd.
“The first one was smaller. When people got to the site there was another explosion,” he said.
Officials had earlier reported that the attack was near Jamia Islamia Binori Town, a prominent seminary linked with the Taleban in Afghanistan.
However, Jamia Binoria, where the blasts occurred, is not believed to have such links.
Explosive experts defused another bomb hidden in a plastic shopping bag near the scene of last night’s blasts, Leghari said.
More than 100 police and paramilitary troops blocked off streets in the area.
The blast shattered windows in the restaurant and other buildings. Glass and rubble littered the street, along with the burned wreckage of a motorcycle in which one of the bombs was planted.
“We were drinking tea in the restaurant when the first bomb exploded. We rushed outside,” said Hayaullah Khan, 20, a student at the school.
Parts of human flash, shreds of glass, smashed furniture and twisted pieces of damaged vehicles were scattered at the blood splattered site.
An official of the bomb disposal squad said all the three bombs were locally made weighing around one to 1.5 kg.
Akhtar Mehmood, a student, said few people came for help. “We forced people to stop their vehicles and take the injured to hospital,” the bearded youngster said.
Karachi — Pakistan’s main port city and commercial center — is believed to be a hide-out for militants, some with suspected Al-Qaeda links.
In recent months the city has seen bomb explosions and attacks targeting security forces and Westerners, including an assassination attempt against a senior general in June. The general survived, but 10 other people died.
Much of the violence in the city of about 14 million people is blamed on Islamic hard-liners angered by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s decision to ally with the US-led war campaign against terrorism.
