KARACHI, June 30: Police said on Wednesday they suspected involvement of a jihadi organization in a rocket attack on a marriage lawn in the city on Monday.

A police officer told Dawn that a 'live rocket', found in a ground in Hijrat Colony, was defused and examined by a bomb disposal squad and bomb experts were of the view that the rocket was actually a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile of 8 to 12km range.

The Russian-made three-foot-long missile was capable of carrying a warhead. It appeared to be new, indicating that a fresh consignment of such missiles might have been smuggled into the city, the police officer added.

The missile, that hit the marriage lawn near the Guru Mandir roundabout on Monday night, had been fired from a ground launcher in Hijrat Colony near the PIDC bridge. It traversed a distance of about 10km and landed at the 'Data Lawn'. The missile produced a deafening sound at both ends.

The police officer said: "We suspect that Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami was behind the attack because they had the training to use such weaponry. Activists of the jihadi outfit were trained to fire ballistic missile."