KARACHI: Police investigators from Karachi have started investigation into the Jacobabad suicide blast of the 9th of Muharram that claimed over 20 people’s lives, it emerged on Sunday.

The investigators belonging to the Counter-Terrorism Department of police collected some important pieces of evidence, which might help identify the suicide bomber, said Raja Umer Khattab, a member of the CTD probe team.

They collected four fingerprints of the left hand of the bomber and two fingerprints of the right hand. All formalities had been completed to send the fingerprints to the National Database and Registration Authority for identification, he added.

He said the bomber who carried out the attack appeared to be around 22 to 24 years of age.

He said that a damaged pistol was also found at the crime scene, which the bomber had been carrying.

‘If the suicide jacket does not explode, he will kill himself instead of surrendering’

However, the CTD official added that the recovery of the pistol might not be of much help as it had been established in other suicide bombings that the bomber carried a pistol or a grenade as per their modus operandi.

“The bomber carries a pistol or a grenade as per their strategy, which is that if the suicide jacket does not explode, he will kill himself instead of surrendering,” the CTD official said.

The bomber who targeted Shia cleric Allama Hasan Turabi in Karachi in recent past also carried a hand grenade. Similarly, the bomber who targeted PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi also carried a pistol.

The Jacobabad procession suicide bombing followed by another suicide attack in the neighbouring area of Balochistan whose responsibility was claimed by the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.

Mr Khattab said the LJ had a strong network in Jhal Magsi and other areas bordering with Balochistan and it might be that they were operating from there.

The CTD official, who had also conducted the probe into the Shikarpur Imambargah suicide blast that had claimed lives of around 60 people in January, recalled that the attack was carried out by the outlawed LJ’s Asif Chhotu group.

“The LJ network remains intact in bordering areas of Sindh-Balochistan despite arrests and killings of several militants of the group,” said the CTD official.

The LJ had suffered major setbacks recently in the shape of killing of top LJ leaders such as Usman Kurd in Balochistan and Malik Ishaq in Punjab and reports about arrest of Naeem Bukhari in Karachi, said Mr Khattab.

After suffering these setbacks, the LJ might want to make their presence felt through suicide bombing on ‘soft target’ in Jacobabad city, he added.

Another investigation officer said that the Sindh police special unit was also coordinating with the Balochistan police as the suicide bombing in Jacobabad took place a day after the suicide bombing at an Imambargah in the Bhag area of Balochistan.

Two persons detained

A source in the provincial government told Dawn that senior police officers informed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who visited Jacobabad on Saturday, that two persons had been taken into custody for interrogation.

It was added that one suspicious person had been detained and on his information another suspect was taken into custody.

The officer said the chief minister was informed that at the time of the incident, electricity supply was off in the area although the power utility had announced that no loadshedding would be carried out on the 9th and 10th of Muharram.

11 wounded airlifted to Karachi

The Pakistan Air Force provided care and support to the victims of the Jacobabad bomb blast, a PAF spokesperson said on Sunday.

The official said that a total of 32 wounded people were brought to the PAF Hospital Shahbaz and provided necessary treatment.

In coordination with the Sindh government, at least 11 critically wounded patients were airlifted by PAF C-130 aircraft to Karachi and were handed over to the local administration for treatment.

Protest over blast

Activists belonging to various political parties and civil society staged a demonstration on Sunday outside the Karachi Press Club against the Friday blast in Jacobabad.

The demonstration was organised by the Secular Sindh Forum and the Qazi Faiz Mohammed Memorial Committee.

Speakers at the protest expressed sympathies with the families of the victims and claimed the state had badly failed to protect its citizens.

They said the curse of sectarianism had not faded away from the country, and that Sindh had been a Sufi and secular society, but its identity was being distorted by “these pre-planned terrorist acts”.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play