KARACHI, March 30: Officials investigating the March 23 twin rocket attacks suspect that the attackers wanted to target either Karachi Airport or Malir Cantonment but they missed the target, it emerged on Wednesday. Two rockets were fired in the Malir area on the morning of March 23 when Pakistan Day was being observed across the country. While one of the rockets hit a local mosque damaging its outer wall, the other slammed into an agricultural farm and did not explode.

No one was reported injured in the attacks.

Speaking to Dawn, an official of the specialised unit of police said that 107mm rockets were used in the attacks in an amateurish manner.

“The suspects apparently wanted to target either the Jinnah International Airport or the Malir Cantonment.”

The investigator said that the rockets missed the target because they were fired without the launcher. “Usually it’s quite difficult to hit the target with accuracy without the launcher,” he added.

Sources in the investigation team said an initial probe showed that there was a possible involvement of some nationalist outfits in the attacks.

It is worth noting that a nationalist outfit is also said to be involved in a series of recent bomb attacks on railway tracks.

One of the two rockets hit the outer wall of the Jama Masjid Mustafa near Baraf Khana with the result that a nearly eight-foot structure collapsed.

The other rocket landed on an agricultural land in the Khazdarabad area within the remit of the Malir City police station. The rocket did not explode.

The Saudabad police registered a case (FIR 80/2011) under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosives Act and 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The Malir City police also registered a separate case (FIR 57/2011) under Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosives Act and 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 against unidentified suspects.

The investigator said that the city had also witnessed two rocket attacks in recent years apart from those carried out on March 23.

One attack was launched from near the airport, he said, adding that the rocket landed into Shah Faisal Colony. He recalled that suspects wanted to attack the airport then also but missed the target.

Similarly, the other rocket fired from Hijrat Colony landed into a marriage hall at Guru Mandir. A wooden handcart had been used to make an improvised launcher, the official recalled.