KARACHI: A grenade explosion inside the heavily guarded Garden Police Headquarters killed two policemen and wounded as many under controversial circumstances on Wednesday.

While the police termed the incident an “accidental explosion” in which another grenade did not explode, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) raised questions as to why the grenades were kept in a police armoury and why these were taken outside the armoury.

Officials said that the grenade exploded “during inspection/cleaning” of the armoury of the South police in the Garden Police Headquarters.

South-SSP (Investigation) Dr Mohammed Imran Khan said that the grenade explosion took place when the officer in charge and his assistant were examining the armoury to assess any damage caused by torrential rains.

BDS says Russian-made grenade exploded due to mishandling; CTD rules out terrorism but raises questions

The grenade exploded outside the armoury killing Muhammed Shahzad and Sabir Husain and wounding armoury in charge Sub-Inspector Saeed and Constable Ali Gohar.

After receiving information about the incident, South-DIG Sharjeel Kharal and CTD DIG Asif Aijaz Shaikh and other officers rushed to the spot.

The bomb disposal squad and crime scene unit were also called in to collect evidence.

DIG Kharal said that the ongoing torrential rains caused damages to the police armouries in the metropolis.

He said the officials were inspecting the armoury and when they tried to ‘defuse’ two grenades, one exploded in the hand of a policeman at around 11:15am.

While the DIG claimed that the grenades were ‘case property’, he did not explain as to why the grenades were kept at the armoury and not at the malkhana.

He said an initial probe suggested that it was an ‘accidental’ case and not related to terrorism or sabotage.

However, the CTD and BDS teams were conducting inquiry into it.

The DIG said as per their standard operating procedures (SOPs) the armouries were being inspected after defusing all explosive devices.

He said that an FIR would be lodged after the report of the incident and inquiry by SP-Headquarters and City SSP who would fix responsibility.

Unanswered questions

Senior CTD official Raja Umer Khattab, who also inspected the scene, told Dawn that one of the policemen had brought the grenades from the armoury. He said one grenade exploded outside the in charge’s office and it was a miracle that the other one did not explode.

“It appeared to be a case of ‘mishandling’ rather than a terrorism incident,” he opined.

He said it was not possible for an outsider to enter the police headquarters and carry out a terror or sabotage activity.

However, the CTD official raised several questions as to why the grenades were kept at the armoury and why the officials removed the explosive devices from there when there was no trained team for proper handling.

He said that these questions might be addressed after a proper inquiry.

Meanwhile, Karachi police chief Javed Odho took notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry.

In their report, BDS officials said that during their post-blast investigation, they found that the Russian-made hand grenade, RGD-1, went off due to ‘mishandling’ by police officials.

“Another hand grenade, also RGD-I, in misfire/dangerous condition was also recovered at the crime scene, which made safe at the spot by the Bomb Disposal Unit team,” the report stated.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that Shehzad Khan, 23, and Mohammad Sabir, 51, were brought dead to the Civil Hospital Karachi. The condition of the wounded policeman was said to be stable.

Meanwhile,the funeral prayers for the two policemen were held at the Garden Police Headquarters in the evening.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2022