KARACHI, July 24: The medico-legal officer who examined the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber of the Nishtar Park tragedy said on Monday that he had not found any explosive substance on the edge of the wound or skin from where the head separated from the body.

Some traces of explosive substance or burn marks should be found if a bomb tied around the body of a person explodes, MLO Abdul Shakoor Bhatti of the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre told the blast inquiry tribunal comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court during his cross-examination.

“I did not find any blackening or charring marks on the neck where the head was found severed from nor were there burning or charring marks on the face. Even the hair showed no burn,” he said. There, he added, was no injury of any kind on the face except broken jaws and damaged eyes. The skin of face was neither lacerated nor cut from any place. The entire brain matter was, however, found lying at the base of the skull.

The witness also showed a photo of the head to the tribunal. He took the picture on his mobile phone at the time of examination. After examining the head, he said, he handed it over to police sub-inspector Asghar Ali.

Replying to questions, the MLO said the head could be separated from body through a sharp cutting object or by primary missile impact of blast. In case of suicide bombing, there might be charring marks but they were not necessary in all cases. Brain matter of a head could come out if neck is completely severed by means of any sharp cutting weapon. The entire body of a person could be blown to pieces if he is standing within a metre of the blast, the witness said in reply to another question. The pieces of the body could be found within area of 200 yards. The pieces carry burn marks because of the flare and heat generated by the explosion.

The MLO was of the view that fire flames and heat did come out of the April 11 blast as many victims received burn marks.

Flames come out simultaneously with the blast, he said. He also conducted autopsy on 10 victims, including Hafiz Mohammad Taqi and Dr Abdul Qadeer Abbasi, and produced copies of the autopsy reports to the tribunal. He opined that the deceased received injuries from hard and blunt substances discharged by the explosive device. However, he admitted that none of the injury shown in the autopsy reports was caused by 6 mm to 8 mm pellets. He could not say whether the injuries were caused by primary or secondary missiles.

The witness also produced medical reports of two of the injured victims, Hanif and Faheem Siddiqui, whom he treated in the JPMC. The proceedings were adjourned to Tuesday after the MLO’s examination.