26 December 2004	Sunday	13 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Dec 25: A total of 55 people died and 184 injured in 10 bombs blast that occurred in the city during the year 2004, compared to last year's four fatalities in as many blasts that had left 31 people injured.

The year 2002 was quite turbulent, having claimed 32 lives and leaving 98 people wounded in 12 bomb blasts.

Apart from an upsurge in terrorist activities last year, the city also witnessed the new trend of suicide bombings which caught the law-enforcement agencies off guard. "Before May 7, we had never perceived that such a series of suicide bombings may take place in the city and places of worship would the targets," remarked a senior police official.

The very first suicide bombing in the city, though still suspected to be of this nature, had taken place on Nov 6, 2000 at the office of daily Nawa-i-Waqt at Guru Mandir. A woman was believed to have worn some explosive device around her body and walked into the office before it went off. Several more suicide bombings were carried out this year.

Similarly, terrorists introduced the new trend of 'twin blasts' this year with an aim of causing maximum possible casualties in a single attack. Besides inflicting more casualties, the twin-blasts posed serious threat to police and newsmen who usually rush to a scene of explosion and reach there minutes afterwards.

The upsurge in terrorist activities targeted at places of worship prompted the authorities to install metal detectors at such places and subject all those entering a mosque or imambargah to frisking.

Not only Muslim shrines, churches were also targeted by terrorists during the current year. A grenade was lobbed at the book shop of the Bible Society, located within the vicinity of the Holy Trinity Church on January 15. The attack was followed by a powerful blast that blew up a vehicle bearing registration number of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. The vehicle was snatched a few hours before the incident. Though there were no fatalities, the blast left several policemen injured. The vehicle, belonging to the TPO of Clifton, was totally destroyed and the TPO himself suffered minor injuries.

On April 10, a booby-trap car exploded outside a musical concert at Golf Club. The concert featured famous Indian singer Sonu Nigum. The blast claimed life of a young man and left six others injured. The young victim was son of a policeman. The victim was passing by the parked vehicle when it blew up.

On May 7, suicide bombing was carried out in the mosque which is located in the compound of the 1894 Sindh Madrassatul Islam School. Fourteen people died on the spot and another eight of the 50 injured succumbed in the next few days.

The attack triggered off violence which spread over many areas of the city and led to a heavy damage to public and private property.

Another incident of this kind occurred on May 31 in the Imambargah Ali Raza where about 20 people were killed while offering prayers. About 60 other worshippers were wounded in the suicide bombing. This attack also sparked off violence in different parts of the city. Three persons, gathered at the Hussaini Blood Bank to donate blood for the victims of suicide bombing, were killed in firing by law-enforcement agencies during the violence.

On May 26, twin-blasts occurred outside the Pakistan American Cultural Centre which is located in the well-guarded diplomatic area of Fatima Jinnah Road. Both the explosions were caused by the bombs planted in closely parked cars and occurred in a quick succession. The second one was of a higher intensity than the first one and planted in the vehicle bearing a fake official registration number.

A number of policemen, reporters and press photographers, who had rushed to the scene of the first blast, were among those who sustained injuries in the second blast.

A guard of Munir Shaikh, Clifton TPO, was killed and the TPO seriously injured in the incident. Following the twin-blasts, security in the entire locality was beefed up to the extent that people almost lost an access to the Frere Hall.

On July 23, a staffer of the Jamia Al-Rasheedia died and eight others, including four scholars, were wounded when the vehicle they were travelling in was attacked with an explosive device, a few kilometres from the seminary located near Gulshan-i-Maymar, off Super Highway, early in the morning.

The device, planted on the roadside, blew up the vehicle and caused damage to another car coming from the opposite direction.

On August 7, two employees of a car rental firm died and two others were wounded when a powerful explosive device went off outside the office of a tour operator firm in DHA Phase-II Commercial Extension.

One of the deceased, Mohammad Nazeer, was cleaning a car and the other, Rehmat, happened to be close to him when the blast occurred. Nazeer died on the spot and Rehmat died before being provided any medical treatment.

Investigators believed that locally improvised explosive devices weighing one-two kilograms and fitted with a timer were used in the attack.

Only the next day, two bombs went off in quick succession near Jamia Binnoria killing at least seven people and injuring more than 40 others.