KARACHI, July 18: In what appeared to be a third attempt to target Rangers officials in the city in less than a week, an improvised explosive device on Wednesday night exploded in the Buffer Zone area of New Karachi leaving a motorcyclist dead and six other people, including two Rangers personnel, wounded, said police.

Earlier on July 16, an IED weighing around 12 kilograms spotted near the Rangers offices on the Superhighway was defused only hours after four personnel of the paramilitary force were wounded in an explosion in Landhi.

The device exploded when a Rangers vehicle slowed down on a speed breaker near People’s Chowrangi within the remit of the Taimuria police station, said SP Gulberg Tanveer Odho.

A rickshaw and two motorcyclists were also close to the Rangers vehicle at the time of the explosion, he added.

A motorcyclist, Zubair, suffered serious injuries and later died at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital during treatment, said the police. They added that two Rangers personnel, who were wounded in the attack, were rushed to hospital for treatment. The four other wounded persons included a woman. They all were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.

“At the moment it is being ascertained if the IED was lobbed at the vehicle or it was planted,” said SP Odho, adding that it was being presumed that the Rangers vehicle was the target of the attack.

There was a crater at the scene of the explosion. Besides, he said, the police investigators also found bearing balls used in the IED.