KARACHI, May 11: French experts arrived here on Saturday and inspected the scene of the Wednesday’s explosion, which killed 14 people and injured 23 others in front of Sheraton Hotel.

“They have also examined the body which was found beside the wreckage of the car that blew apart,” provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah told a news conference at driving licence branch auditorium.

He denied the presence of French intelligence team and said the French officials had arrived in the city to provide technical assistance. “We are conducting investigation in collaboration with the technical experts, who are assisting us and analyzing the scene of blast and the dead body,” he said, adding that hopefully an opinion would be made as to how and in what way the incident took place.

To a question he said so far four to five persons had been associated with the investigation, but no arrest had been made formally. Those picked up for interrogations had some information about the three key suspects in the bombing case. He declined to disclose the names of the key suspects as it could damage the process of investigation.

HE SAID: “We presume in view of the investigation that two of the three suspects are from here and one hails from Punjab.”

He asked the people to pass on any information they have about the suspects on UAN # 0800 786. He said after sketches of the three suspects were published in the press, various people, belonging to Sindh and other provinces, had contacted the police and claimed that they could identify the suspects.

To a question as to whether it was a suicide bombing, the IGP said there were several possibilities and all aspects were being analyzed.

He said there was also a possibility that the man did not even know that a bomb had been planted in the car and he just parked the car, which was exploded.

Another possibility, he added, was that there was no one in the car, when it was exploded. “However, at this stage, there is one suspicious body which is yet to be identified, therefore, it gives an impression that he was a suicide bomber, but it could not be definitely said till now,” he maintained.

About crackdown on the banned organizations, he said it was not linked with the blast. He said so far 52 people belonging to the four banned organizations had been picked up.

Fourteen people, including 11 French nationals, were killed and 23 others injured, when an apparent “suicide bomber” pulled up next to a Pakistan Navy bus and detonated some explosives on May 8 in front of Sheraton Hotel.

All roads, including the Fatima Jinnah Road, Shahrah-i-Iran in Clifton, and the single-track of Abdullah Haroon Road where the US Consulate is situated, remained closed for traffic movement on Saturday.

The Club Road where the explosion took place has also been closed for traffic since the incident.