HYDERABAD: Twenty-four people suffered injuries in a cracker blast near Sakhi Abdul Wahab Shah Jilani flyover within the jurisdiction of Makki Shah police station on Sunday night.

The injured identified as Ashfaq Khan, Nooruddin, Mohammad Wasim, Osama, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Ramzan, Manzoor Ahmed, Yasir Ahmed, Sajid, Faizullah, Syed Atif, Sufyan, Wallad Khan, Bashir Ahmed, Umer Deen, Naveed, Shahbaz, Abdul Wali, Nasir Rind, Moiz, Wilayat, Syed Alam and Mohammad Imran were shifted to Liaquat University Hospital’s city branch.

Officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad confirmed it was a cracker explosion which left a small crater in the road. Pellets, cartridges and shrapnel were used in the improvised explosive device which hit people on their hands, legs and back. There were shops and pushcarts selling used shoes and garments underneath the flyover.

Talking to Dawn, SSP Irfan Baloch hinted at the involvement of a banned nationalist outfit in the blast and said it appeared the cracker had been thrown down from the flyover.

A banned nationalist organisation has issued a call for strike in the province ‘to voice protest’ against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

Officials of different law enforcement agencies rushed to the blast scene to assess the situation while DIG Hyderabad range Khadim Rind ordered suspension of the SHO of Makki Shah police station, Imran Afridi, in the wake of the blast.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017