KARACHI, April 6: Provincial chief of the Tehreek-i-Islami and coalition partner of the MMA, Allama Hasan Turabi, escaped an apparent assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his car leaving four persons injured in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Thursday.

TPO Gulshan Asif Ajaz told Dawn that Allama was going in his vehicle. When his car reached the bridge on Abul Hasan Isphani Road, an abandoned pushcart laden with oranges went off.

Those injured in the blast were Murtaza, son of Allama Turabi, police guard Mashooq Ali, cyclist Javed Abbas and pedestrian Adil Husain. They were taken to a nearby private hospital.

Hospital sources said Javed Abbas and Adil Husain were in serious condition.

The explosion damaged the car, flattening its tyres and shattering glasses. The pushcart, which was fitted with explosive, reduced to twisted metal rods after the blast.

The impact of the explosion broke the window panes of the adjoining apartments.

Officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said that ½kg explosive had been detonated with a remote control.

A senior police official said someone must have been monitoring the movement of the car to detonate the explosive.

Following the blast, panic griped the locality and almost all the shops were closed.

The Rangers and police personnel reached the spot soon after the incident, but they failed to stop the people from gathering at the scene of the blast.

Talking to the newsmen after surviving the blast, Allama Hasan Turabi blamed the so-called proscribed outfits of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba for the attack.

He said he was going to Idra Noor-i-Haq to attend a meeting when he met the accident.

He was quick to point out that recently, the government had withdrawn his police guards.

The Gulshan town Nazim, who visited the spot, issued a statement condemning the incident.