KARACHI, Dec 10: Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), accompanied by the police, navy and paramilitary officials, visited the bombed site of the Macedonian honorary consulate to inspect the type of explosive used to blow up the edifice.
However, the FBI agents and other officials have failed to ascertain the intensity of the blast and the type of explosive used in the bombing as they could not find any fragments of the device and traces of the explosive material so far, well-placed sources in the law enforcement agencies told Dawn.
The FBI agents navy officials were almost sure that the explosive meant for exploding rocks might have been used to shatter the entire backyard of the bungalow and the adjoining staircase. The explosion had also developed a deep crater near the kitchen.
The sources said that the FBI agents collected samples of the earth, rubble and other things to be sent to the United Statesfor further examination. They were of the view that an analysis would help determine the type explosive but the evidences collected so far suggested that it was a dynamite.
The agents, once again interfering in the course of investigation, used their influence on the local police asking them to follow the directives of FBI which believed that the Al Qaeda activists were involved in the bombing of Macedonian consulate, sources claimed. The blast ripped through the Macedonian consulate, located near Nisar Shaheed Park, Phase IV in Defence Housing Authority late on Dec 4. Three bodies were discovered from the rubble but it appeared that the victims were killed before the bombing. They were trussed up and their throats were slit.
The Honorary Consul, Bilal Qureshi, identified one of the body as of the watchman of the office, Hameed. However, he expressed his surprise over the discovery of two other bodies, one of them a woman and the other a man who were later identified as Ghazala Parveen and Asif Khan.
Asif, a civilian employee in Pakistan Navy, was in his late 30s and Ghazala, wife of Ameer, in her early 30s. Ameer is stated to be working in KPT fire station.
According to the police investigation, conducted so far, the slain couple had been using the consulate premises for some ulterior motives with the permission of the watchman. The police also believed that Hameed had been misusing the premises by providing shelter to different couples for indecent activities allegedly in connivance with the local police.
The investigation wing of the police, sources claimed, had decided to associate the Gizri police officials with the investigation in the case. Departmental action could be initiated against those police officials found having received illegal gratification for providing shelter for the criminal activities, the sources added.
In the six days of investigations by all the agencies involved, no substantial clue to the culprits having planned or carried out the bombing has been found.
The police have been looking into all the aspects, including involvement of foreign hand.
The investigators do not rule out a possible link between the bomb attack and the killing by police of six Pakistani nationals on March 2 in the Macedonia capital Skopje. The Macedonian police claimed that the Pakistanis were plotting attacks on key installations in that country.
“We are examining this aspect as the revenge of Pakistanis’ killings might be one of the factors to attack the Macedonian honorary consulate in Karachi,” a senior police official said.
