KARACHI, 15 July 2006 — Prominent Shiite leader Hassan Turabi, his young nephew and a bodyguard were killed and three others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Gulshan-e-Iqbal township here yesterday.
Turabi, the president of the main Shiite political party, Islami Tehrik and a prominent Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader in Sindh, died in hospital about an hour after the attack, a doctor said.
Karachi authorities put the city on red alert and stepped up patrols by police and paramilitary forces in a bid to maintain peace.
Violence and protests were, however, reported from various areas of the city prompting police to fire tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. The protestors threw rocks at traffic signals, burned vehicles and a petrol pump in Gulshan area. Gunfire was also heard but there were no reports of casualties.
“Hassan Turabi, his 10-year-old nephew and a bodyguard were killed in the attack. A high court judge has been appointed as the investigating officer,” officials told Arab News. The bomber blew himself up as Turabi returned home from an anti-Israel rally in central Karachi.
The corpse of his young nephew, Ali Turabi, could be seen lying in a narrow whitewashed alleyway outside Turabi’s house where the bomber blew himself up. Next to it was the bomber’s severed head with its eyes still open.
“It was a targeted killing, aimed at disturbing peace and harmony of Karachi. Let’s hope and pray that the situation remains calm,” Salahuddin Haider, a spokesman for the Sindh government said.
Haider said the suicide bomber struck after an accomplice threw a bomb that did not explode.
“The bomb has been recovered by the police. The bomber managed to escape,” he said. “Security in the city has obviously been beefed up. We strictly condemn this attack,” Haider said.
“A man in a car drove up and got out then blew himself up near Turabi’s car,” Karachi police investigator Manzoor Mughal said. “Three police bodyguards tried to stop the bomber as he embraced Turabi, then he blew up the explosives which had hundreds of small nails inside,” Mughal said.
“There was a huge bomb blast outside our home and a cousin of mine has died while my father is being treated in hospital,” his son, Murtaza Turabi, said before his father died.
Relief workers transported the lower part of the bomber’s body to hospital, said Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for the private Edhi Ambulance Service. Eyewitnesses said an unexploded hand grenade was also found at the scene.
“The bomber seems to be aged in his early 20s without a beard,” said resident Ali Abbas Naqvi, who saw the remains of the body before it was taken away.
A crowd of 300 people, many of them crying, had gathered around the hospital to wait for news about Turabi while police stood guard. They began shouting slogans after finding out he was dead.
Hundreds more massed near Turabi’s house, which is in an area which has seen frequent sectarian attacks blamed on militants from the rival sect.
“We have contacted elders and Shiite leaders, who themselves are appealing to their people for restraint and to remain peaceful,” Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui said.
Turabi escaped another assassination attempt without injury on April 6 when a bomb hidden under a fruit cart exploded as he climbed into his car outside his home. Two bodyguards and a passerby were hurt in that incident.
