KARACHI: Around the time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was preparing to unveil on Wednesday his yet another offer for talks with the outlawed Taliban militant outfit, a residential area of Karachi was rocked by three blasts, killing three paramilitary soldiers and a civilian.

One of the three attacks, which took place in a matter of two hours, was a suicide blast at the Rangers’ headquarters in North Nazimabad, preceded by two others in the same locality. Besides the four deaths, nine people — including six Rangers’ personnel and a policeman — were injured in the blasts.

And soon after, news agencies reported, TTP spokesman Shahidulla Shahid claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Officials believe that the blasts were aimed at warning the Rangers against carrying out an operation against militants in the city.

According to SSP Amir Farooqi and Rangers spokesperson, the suicide bomber wearing Shalwar-Kameez tried to enter Sachal Rangers’ headquarters, and when paramilitary personnel ordered him to stop, he ignored the warning and kept moving to the entrance of the complex.

When two uniformed personnel rushed to intercept him, the bomber blew himself up, killing both the men and a guard of the nearby PTCL office and injuring two other personnel.

The suicide attack was preceded by two explosions caused by bombs planted in the same area.

The SSP said that one of the bombs had been detonated near Nazimabad-7 bridge by a remote control linked to a mobile phone.

As law-enforcement personnel and rescue workers rushed to the place, another bomb hidden nearby went off, causing injuries to three Rangers personnel and a worker of an ambulance service. One of the injured soldiers died in hospital and another was said to be a critical condition.

According to Dr Abdul Haq, additional police surgeon of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, they had received the bodies of Rangers sub-inspector Javed Iqbal and sepoy Umair Liaquat. Another sepoy, Atiq Rehman, died soon after reaching the hospital.

The fourth deceased, the guard of the PTCL, was identified as Gulbahar Channa.

Dr Haq said they had also received the head and legs of the purported suicide bomber who was wearing a long beard and appeared to be aged between 23 and 25 years.

Two more Rangers men, Ghafoorullah and Arshad, were admitted to the JPMC with critical wounds, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the hospital’s emergency department.

Raja Umar Khattab, in-charge of CID’s anti-terrorism cell, said the Rangers personnel who had sacrificed their lives had saved the lives of around 30 to 40 colleagues because the suicide bomber carried a bomb with five to six kgs of explosives and ball bearings, which could cause massive casualties.

He said the head of the bomber had been found and his finger prints obtained.

Pakistan Rangers provincial director general Maj Gen Rizwan Akhtar said such attacks would not deter them from combating terror. He vowed to intensity the operation against terrorism.

A Rangers spokesperson announced that the personnel, who had intercepted the suicide bomber and sacrificed their lives, would be awarded the Gallantry Award. Earlier in the day, Rangers conducted targeted actions in Shah Latif Town and Qayyumabad, he said. They arrested 11 ‘criminals including members of banned originations’ and seized 31 weapons and stolen motorcycles.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah described the attacks as part of a ‘heinous conspiracy’… aimed at triggering panic and chaos. Faced with an intensive action, terrorists were carrying out ‘cowardly attacks’ in a ‘bid to escape’, he said.