KARACHI, Oct 20: During the course of investigations, the police have found evidence suggesting that the suicide bomber who targeted the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leadership on Thursday was not alone but was accompanied by four or five accomplices ahead of the crime, while a second severed head was found near the crime scene.

Requesting anonymity, a senior security official said that the suicide bomber had been part of a suspicious-looking group of men, amongst whom some had been holding sticks, who had been spotted standing under the Karsaz flyover by a policeman. Before the officer could approach them, however, the men melted into the crowd and were last seen standing in front of the PSO fuel station, the security official told Dawn. “These men were distinguishable from the rest of the crowd because they were wearing white shalwar kameez and did not appear to enjoying the music and joy of the occasion,” observed the official.

Security officials confirmed with Dawn that a badly-mutilated second head was found a few years away from the crime scene on Friday morning while evidence was being collected by investigators.

These reports, which suggest the presence of accomplices, and the discovery of a second severed head further strengthen the speculation that the first blast was also carried out by a suicide bomber, said the official.

On Saturday, the police officially released a photograph of the severed head of the suicide bomber, who sources say appears to be a local man aged between 20 and 25 years.

DIG Investigation Manzoor Mughal denied reports of arrests but confirmed that suspects lodged in the Karachi Prison, who were known to have affiliations with proscribed outfits, were being questioned in connection with Thursday night’s bombings. Asked whether the police are still of the view that the first blast was caused by a grenade, the DIG said that inquiries were being pursued from all angles.

DIG Mughal added that the bodies of 40 victims of the bombings were still unclaimed, of which 12 or 14 were “in very bad condition.”

The Edhi Foundation has posted photographs of the unclaimed bodies outside the emergency wards of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the Civil Hospital Karachi and outside the Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth.