KARACHI, June 17: Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide bombing in Friday’s bomb explosion near the US consulate-general. However, they are awaiting the expert opinion of FBI agents, who are trying to determine which vehicle was the carrier of the explosive material.

“So far, we have not found any evidence which could lead us to believe that it was a suicide bombing,” the Inspector-General of the Sindh Police, Syed Kamal Shah, told a news conference here in the Driving Licence Branch on Monday evening.

He said there was no difference of opinion between the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the local investigators. However, the FBI agents were reported to have been working on the assumption of suicide bombing.

About the kind of the bomb used in the attack, he said either a timer device was fitted to the explosive or a remote-controlled device was used to explode the bomb.

The FBI agents were extending technical help to the local investigators, he said, adding: “After they complete their technical analysis, we will request them to tell us which car was involved in the bomb explosion.”

He said 18 vehicles were damaged in the incident, and except for two of them, the rest were more or less intact. A Toyota Corolla of 1981 model was blown into 46 pieces, six of the vehicles were comparatively large and the rest small. A Suzuki Hi-Roof was blown into 40 pieces, 10 of them were comparatively big and the rest small.

Referring to initial investigations, he said one of the two blown-up vehicles contained the explosive. “We have tried to collect evidence which could lead us whether there was something on the road (where the bomb blast occurred), but no such evidence could be collected,” he said.

The IG did not confirm which vehicle carried the explosive, but his focus was on the Toyota Corolla car belonging to Khanum Motor Training School, as he said the Toyota Corolla had stopped at a traffic signal of Hoshang Chowk while coming from the Driving Licence Branch from Clifton. It was waiting for a green signal beside a taxi, the occupants of which survived. They told police that the Toyota was running smoothly as the driver was not in panic. “We can reach different conclusions on the basis of this statement of these witnesses,” he added.

He said the Toyota came to the Driving Licence Branch about 10.15am and its occupants stayed there for half an hour as they left the place after 10.45am. The car was parked some 100 yards away from the Driving Licence Branch, he added.

Police presumed that there were five women in the car, though the limbs of four women had been found at the spot. Limbs of the fifth woman could not be found. However, her purse had been found in the wreckage, and the purse had been identified by the victim’s son. “We presume that she was in the car at the time of explosion,” the IG said.

He said police had not made any formal arrest, so far, in this case. However, 61 persons, including 38 injured, had been associated with the investigations.

Mr Shah did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of foreign hand, including people from Afghanistan. He said Al Qaeda activists might be present in the city, and local groups might also be involved in the bomb explosion.

“We are working with an open mind,” he said, adding that if someone involved in the incident was arrested and he told investigators about his affiliation, then it would be clear who was behind the bomb explosion.