Pakistani Naval personnel cordon off the area after a bomb attack on a Navy bus in Karachi. –AFP Photo

KARACHI: At least five people were killed and more than eight wounded on Thursday after a bomb hit a Pakistan Navy bus in the Karsaz area of the restive southern port city of Karachi, in the third such attack this week.

“A bomb planted on a roadside exploded when a Pakistan Navy bus was passing by,” provincial government official Sharfuddin Memon told AFP.

“One lady doctor and one officer were martyred in the attack,” a senior naval official told AFP.

Two security officials confirmed the attack.

Bomb attacks hit two buses carrying Pakistani navy officials in Karachi Tuesday, killing four people in the latest sign of rampant insecurity in a nation key to US hopes of winning its fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Nearly 60 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack when remote-controlled bombs exploded beside the buses at rush hour in different parts of Pakistan's politically tense economic capital, used by Nato to ship supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

Karachi is home to Pakistan's stock exchange and a lifeline for a depressed economy wilting under inflation and stagnating foreign investment.

But the city of 16 million is plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings, crime and kidnappings.

It is scored with rivalries between the Urdu-speaking majority and an influx of Pashtuns from the northwest, and outbreaks of political violence in Karachi killed more than 150 people last year.

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

KARACHI, with its long history of crime, is well-acquainted with the menace. For some time now, it has witnessed...
Appointment rules
06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

IT appears that, despite years of wrangling over the issue, the country’s top legal minds remain unable to decide...
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....