KARACHI: Two days after Friday’s suicide bombing targeting a van carrying five Japanese nationals in Landhi, police on Sunday registered cases against unidentified mastermind, suicide bomber and his slain accomplice and their facilitators on terrorism charges.

All the foreigners escaped unhurt but their guard, Noor Mohammed, was killed and another guard and a passerby were injured in attack.

The Counter-Terrorism Department registered three cases under Section 302 (premeditated murder), 109 (abetment), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and Sections 3 /4 of the Explosives Act on behalf of the state on the complaint of Sharafi Goth SHO Arshad Awan.

Investigators are still not sure of the exact perpetrators of the terrorist attack and they mentioned in the FIR that “there was a strong doubt that an unidentified outlawed terror organisation and its facilitators/mastermind carried out the suicide and gun attack on foreigners”.

The FIR said that the terrorists, by committing an act of terrorism, wanted to damage the credibility of the country and undermine the economy.

The police did not mention the nationality of the foreigners in the FIRs.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2024