KARACHI, Jan 14: At least nine people, two of them children, were killed and 52 others wounded when an explosive device believed to have been fitted to a motorcycle went off in Landhi on Monday night.

The blast occurred at a time when President Pervez Musharraf was in the city.

The bomb exploded at around 8pm near the Gul Ahmed Chowrangi, where labourers returning home from nearby factories were buying fruit and vegetables, a police official said.

“A middle-aged man parked his motorcycle close to vegetable carts, enquired about the prices of different items and soon melted into the darkness. A few seconds later, an explosion took place, causing chaos as people ran for cover,” Ahsan Khan, an eyewitness, said at the Jinnah Hospital, where he was looking for an acquaintance.

A large number of enraged people converged on the site of the blast, chanting slogans against the government.

Intense gunfire shook Landhi and its vicinity after the explosion.

Police found the wreckage of the motorcycle metres from where the bomb exploded, but were unable to find the number plate.

Dr Zulfiqar Sial, a spokesman for the JPMC, said nine bodies had been brought to the hospital. The number of the injured admitted to JPMC was 52, seven of them in critical condition.

Ambulances carrying the injured to hospitals were stuck in traffic jams at the Sharea Faisal. A mini-truck was the first to carry bodies and injured victims to the JPMC. It was followed by ambulances and some taxies.

Outside the Jinnah Hospital’s emergency department, chaos reigned as the presence of television crews and reporters impeded the movement of ambulances. Rangers personnel had to resort to baton charge to clear the way.

“It was an act of terrorism aimed at general public just to create chaos, harassment and despondency among people. A very poor section of the population was targeted,” Sindh PPO Azhar Ali Farooqi told Dawn.

He said initial investigation suggested an improvised explosive device had been used. It weighed 1.5kgs. Shahi Syed, the chief of the Awami National Party’s Sindh chapter, was the first politician to visit the hospital. He was followed by Saleem Zia of the PML-N, Rafiq Engineer of the PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Nasarullah Shaji.

AFP adds: “I was leaving the factory when I heard a huge explosion and I saw several people lying in pools of blood on the road. There were more than 30 people who were hit by the blast,” eyewitness Rehman Malik said.

“As soon as the bomb went off the electricity pylon caught fire and the lights went out. There were bodies lying all around and I could hear people screaming in the darkness,” he added.