KARACHI: At least 25 people were killed and over 100 others injured here on Friday when two blasts hit within a couple of hours a bus carrying people to a Chehlum procession and a hospital where the wounded were being treated.

At about 3pm, the bus carrying mourners was blown up by what police described as an improvised explosive device (IED) fitted on a motorcycle at Sharea Quaideen Bridge. At least 12 people were killed and scores of others injured.

About two hours later, an explosion took place outside the emergency ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre which was crowded by relatives of people injured in the bus blast, paramedics and media personnel.

The carnage was a grim reminder of a terror attack on the city’s main Ashura procession exactly 40 days ago when dozens of people were killed.

According to Sindh Health Minister Dr Saghir Ahmed, 13 people died in the JPMC blast, among them three women and a union council nazim belonging to the Muttahida. Nearly 50 people were injured.

The news of the blasts heightened tension in the main Chehlum procession on M.A. Jinnah Road which was heading to Mehfil-i-Husainian Iranian from Nishtar Park.

However, ulema leading the procession urged the mourners not to stage a protest sit-in and to take the procession peacefully to its destination.

Karachi police Chief Waseem Ahmed told Dawn that both the blasts had similarities. He said a computer monitor containing over 20kgs of explosives had been found in the casualty ward and was defused.

Most of the passengers of the ill-fated bus were residents of the H-Area in Husaini Quarters near the RCD ground in Malir. Several of them were related to each other.

Some people were also on the roof of the bus and a number of residents of the Jafar-i-Tayyar Society had also boarded it. The bus belonged to Imambargah Husaini Sefaratkhana.

As the bus took a left turn from Sharea Faisal for the Sharea Quaideen Bridge, the motorcycle parked at the initial ramp on the left side of the bridge exploded. The explosives, police said, were detonated by remote control when the bus passed by the bike.

The bus kept moving for some distance after the explosion and then stopped. People packed in the bus bore the brunt of the blast.

Most of the victims suffered injuries to the head and torso, while some suffered wounds in legs, hospital sources said.

The blast was heard miles away in the Numaish area, by mourners in the Chehlum procession.

The blast also shattered windowpanes of a house facing the bridge. Special Investigation Unit (SIU) SSP Raja Umar Khattab said it was not a case of suicide bombing.
 
However, another police official, Inspector Munir Ahmed Shaikh, told journalists at the scene that it was a suicide blast and explosives had been stuffed in a vest.

An elderly man, Ashfaq Husain, sitting beside the bus was grieving for his family. “I have lost my son Ali and my nephews. I am sitting here waiting for someone to kill me. Why am I still alive? Why didn’t I die with my son,” he said as he broke down.

Investigators said a motorcycle was used also in the blast at the hospital and apparently a small television was used as an IED.

Three women employees of the JPMC were also killed in the blast. Both the blasts sent plumes of white smoke in the air that were seen from miles away.
 
According to SP Faizullah Karejo, amid a rumpus caused briefly by enraged people after the explosion in the hospital, someone noticed a monitor placed on a motorcycle and took it into the casualty ward, apparently to save it from damage.

Bomb disposal unit (BDU) personnel and sniffer dogs of Rangers scanned the premises, but failed to detect the explosives.

“I noticed the monitor on a bench and felt that it was out of place. When I lifted it, it felt fairly heavy. Subsequently, BDU personnel were called and the monitor was opened, exposing over 20kgs of explosives laced with nuts and attached to a detonator,” Mr Karejo said.

“It was probably due to the distance that the remote control device didn’t work, otherwise it would have wreaked havoc in the hospital,” he said.

After the hospital blast, volunteers started searching every incoming ambulance and other vehicles for explosives, while the strong contingents of police present at the place stood by.