HYDERABAD: A contradiction in the versions of police and Rangers with regard to the Friday incident, in which a would-be suicide bomber was killed by law enforcers in Hyderabad, emerged when the A-Section police registered the case.

Airport SHO Anwar Khanzada, lodged the case at the A-Section police station of Latifabad stating that he, along with a team of his subordinates, was on patrolling the road along Daman-i-Kohsar when he spotted two suspicious persons in the Amani Shah graveyard. One of them fired on his team which was returned, he further stated, adding that during the encounter one of the two suspects fell down. Later, he stated, a suicide vest was found around his body which was defused by the bomb disposal squad.

The version contradicts the Rangers’ press release issued soon after the incident on Friday.

The press release had stated that a would-be suicide bomber tried to enter an Imambargah [Bab-i-Ali situated a few metres away from the Amani Shah graveyard on Daman-i-Kohsar road] while Juma prayers were under way. It said that while trying to enter the Imambargah, he lobbed a grenade at a Rangers mobile team.

The Rangers personnel responded swiftly and he was killed. His accomplice fled,” it added.

The case is being investigated by Latifabad DSP Ayub Durrani.

Meanwhile, the body is still lying in the mortuary of Liaquat University Hospital’s city branch. Police wrote letter to Nadra regional office so that fingerprints of the alleged terrorist could be obtained to establish his identity. The Latifabad police have also approached National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) regional office in this regard.

Published in Dawn December 20th, 2016