KARACHI, Feb 24: Five accused in the bomb blast near the Sheraton Hotel that had killed 13 people, including 10 Frenchmen, and injured 23 others, were declared absconders by Judge Feroz Mahmood Bhatti of the ATC-2.
A process server, who was assigned to track down and arrest Mohammed Saeed alias Akram , Adnan Qamar alias Noni alias Osama, Abdul Samad, Basit and Mustafa, deposed before the court that exhausted efforts were made to arrest the absconding accused, but their whereabouts could not be known.
Mohammed Asif Zaheer and Rizwanullah, who allegedly were trained in a camp belonging to Harkat Jihad-i-Islami in Afghanistan, are the two arrested accused in this case.
The judge fixed March 5 for further proceedings in the case.
The Frenchmen and three locals were killed and 23 others, including 10 foreigners, injured some of them seriously, when a “suicide bomber” driving a car pulled up next to a bus of the Pakistan Navy and exploded on May 8 last year in front of the Sheraton Hotel.
The PN bus was about to move in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Club Road, when a car stopped beside it and blew up, also destroying the bus and causing damage to the shops at the ground floor of the Pearl Continental and Sheraton hotels.
The victims included Leclerc Jean Yves, Bled Cedric, Groux Pascal, Le Carpentier Daniel, Chevassut Jean Michel, Leconte Pascal, Drouet Claude, Dupont Bernard. A Pakistani woman was also among the dead.
Those injured were identified as Leveziel Laurent, Weegall Jean Marc, Madec Laig, Zante Jean Paul, Waupenie Jean Raymond, Waurent Jacques, Donnart Theirry, Jean Pierre, Etasse Claude, Laurent Jaques, Michel Vinduard, Sanson Gilles, Labat Frederic, Kamran Fazil (official of PN Qasim), Haji Mohammad Nazeer (employee of foreign consulate), Iqbal Shah (driver of Sheraton), Abdul Aziz, Haji Nadeem, Ali Haider Shah, Lal Sabir, Abdus Sattar and Zaid.
PRISONERS’ VAN CASE: The same court (ATC-1) also put off the hearing of another case against the two accused till Tuesday.
The case pertained to an attack on a prisoners’ van on February 28 last year in the limits of the Nabi Bux police.
Two people, including a constable, Shakil, were killed when the prisoners’ van, also carrying some sectarian workers, was ambushed near Bohra Pir.
Asif Ramzi, Ata-ur-Rahman and Naeem Bukhari were declared absconders in the case.
