KARACHI: The police investigators probing the Friday bomb blast in Saddar claimed to have ‘solved’ the case on Saturday after the identification of the two men killed in an explosion on Friday, saying that both were associated with a banned nationalist outfit and were killed due to mishandling of the explosive they were carrying on a motorbike.

After the identification of one of the killed men as Abdul Fatah Dahiri, the other was recognised as Usman Panhwar, who lived in Chakra Goth in Korangi but originally hailed from Jamshoro.

The police said “both were associated with the banned nationalist outfit led by Shafi Burfat”.

“After analysing the evidence, speaking to witnesses and poring over the technological analysis, we came to the conclusion that the two were riding the same motorbike when the bomb exploded,” said Raja Umer Khattab, chief of the CID police counter-terror unit.

“We also got the footage of a camera in one of the building near the blast site which showed that the two were riding the same bike with a bag placed between them. The bomb exploded most probably when the pillion rider was finally connecting it before planting it at their targeted place. The bike was moving and in the process he mishandled the explosive and it went off.”

He said Dahri had been living in the Nazimabad area since 2008 but originally hailed from Nawabshah. The operators of the banned groups, he said, hardly shared their activities or association with their families.

“So the family claim doesn’t matter about his routine. The investigators have also acquired his cellphone record data which helped in connecting the dots and identification of their organisation,” he added.

The bomb blast outside Jamia Masjid Muhajir Makki and its neighbouring seminary, Mahd-ul-Irshad Islami Madressah on New Preedy Street in Saddar on Friday, which killed the two suspected attackers, was heard for miles and sowed fear in one of the busiest commercial districts of the city. The blast was so powerful that it damaged the panes of the vacant multi-storey Parking Plaza across the road and destroyed two motorbikes.

City police Ghulam Qadir Thebo had in his immediate reaction ruled out that Jamia Masjid Muhajir Makki and Mahd-ul-Irshad Islami Madressah were the actual target as the investigators hinted that a nearby rally of the Jamaat-ud-Da’awa was the potential target.

“Their target is still not clear,” said Raja Khattab. “The record of the dead operators was being further checked. But one should remember the operators or workers of the banned organisations operate in an extremely sophisticated manner and their activities hardly come on the record. But if you look over the past few months the number of bomb explosions has increased at a staggering pace which definitely indicates the presence of several groups in the city.”

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2014