KARACHI, Aug 13: Investigators probing the Sunday night explosion outside a hardware store in New Karachi on Monday concluded that it was actually a hand-grenade attack on the shop.

Initially, police believed that the blast which caused injuries to two persons was carried out by an improvised explosive device planted at a market near UP Mor in New Karachi. Shopkeeper Mohammad Khalid was injured in the blast along with another person.

Officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit said that a Russian-made hand-grenade was lobbed at the shop which caused the explosion.

However, its impact was greatly minimised because it had hit the stairs, they added. A senior police officer said although the shopkeeper insisted that he had not received any extortion threats, the investigators were of the view that it was an extortion-related attack.

A case (FIR 373/2012) was registered on Monday under Section3/4 of the Explosive Act and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 on a complaint of the shopkeeper.—Staff Reporter