KARACHI: Three policemen were killed and two others wounded on Monday, when the interior minister was in the city to review progress of the Rangers-led targeted operation launched more than a year ago, officials said.

Five policemen were patrolling M. A. Jinnah Road in a police van when suspects riding a motorcycle threw improvised explosive material at the vehicle near Gul Plaza, resulting in the death of two policemen and injuries to a third one, said Karachi’s additional inspector general of police Ghulam Qadir Thebo.

The explosive material appeared to be ‘a mix of a grenade and chemicals’ as it instantly triggered a fire, destroying the van. “Both policemen died from burns while the third one sustained pellet wounds and jumped off the vehicle,” said the city police chief.

The dead and wounded policemen were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi. The dead were identified as head constable Shamim Rehman, hailing from Swabi, and constable Mobin, from Jhelum, while head constable Faisal Ejaz was admitted to the hospital for treatment.

In the other incident in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, a policeman was shot dead and another was wounded.

They were buying grocery at a roadside shop in Block 13-D when gunmen riding a motorcycle attacked them and escaped. The wounded policemen were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors declared Muftahuddin, 36, dead on arrival, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the JPMC’s emergency department. She added that another police constable, Abdul Qayyum, 42, was admitted for treatment. He had sustained bullet wounds on the shoulder and his condition appeared to be stable, added Dr Jamali.

The policemen were guards of SP Tahir Noorani, said the city police chief.

Mr Thebo said he suspected that militants were involved in both attacks on policemen that were aimed at ‘demoralising’ the police who had carried out a sustained action against militants in the metropolis.

The AIG said there were similarities in the grenade attack on the police van on Monday evening and another grenade attack on a police van near an Imambargah at NIPA in Gulshan-i-Iqbal before Ashura as both attacks sparked fires.

He said the police had got some ‘clues’ which suggested that a ‘new terrorist group’ had adopted a method of targeting the police by throwing ‘chemicals’ on them.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014