KARACHI, 18 November 2005 — An anti-terrorism court remanded three men from a tribal group involved in Tuesday’s car bombing incident near PIDC in Karachi. Accused Aziz Khan, Mangla Khan and Abdul Jabbar, linked to the Balochistan Liberation Army and arrested in Gulshan Iqbal, have confessed to involvement in a car bomb blast near a US fast food chain outlet that killed three people, a court official said.
Their confession was presented before the Anti Terrorism Court Executive Judge Justice Khilji Arif Hussain yesterday. The police requested the court for 14 days remand but the court granted seven days’ custody till Nov. 24.
An anti-terrorism court had remanded the men in custody for seven days while investigations continued into Tuesday’s bombing of a branch of the KFC chain, said public prosecutor Habib Ahmed. Police said the trio belong to a group called the Balochistan Liberation Army which is engaged in a low-level insurgency in the tribal-dominated southwestern province of Balochistan.
A purported representative of the group had claimed responsibility hours after the blast, which killed two security guards and a passerby, saying the attack had been targeted at Pakistan Petroleum Limited offices near the KFC.
The state-run company operates a large natural gas field in Balochistan, whose tribes believe they should be getting a greater share of profits from the province’s natural wealth. “The accused during interrogation confessed their role in the bombing,” Ahmed said, adding that “many of their accomplices are still in hiding.”
Chief police investigator Manzoor Mughal said the trio, all aged in their 30s, were arrested while trying to escape in a car. They included the “gang leader,” identified as Aziz Khan.
Police recovered two Kalashnikov rifles, two hand grenades and three kilograms (nearly seven pounds) of explosive material from a building they used as a hide-out, he said.
“Several of their accomplices, who are hiding in Karachi, will also be arrested shortly,” he said, stressing the “BLA was behind the blast.” The accused, their faces covered, were brought to the anti-terrorism court under heavy security.
— Additional input from agencies.
