KARACHI, Dec 31: A new trend vis-a-vis bombings was witnessed in the metropolis in the year 2002 as the terrorists made the foreigners or western interests as their target for the first time. In all 11 westerners lost their lives. Considerable damage to their property was also reported.

Besides the foreigners, 21 locals died in the 12 blasts which rocked the city, taking the total number of persons dying in them to 32 during the year under review.

The year 2001, in contrast, had passed quite peacefully as far as bomb blasts were concerned as no major loss of life was reported in them. However, several persons had been injured in isolated incidents of explosion caused by firecrackers.

In 2002, unlike past years, no blast occurred in public transport vehicles. In previous years minibuses and buses, belonging to several routes, had been targeted by terrorists with the aim of causing maximum damage.

During the year under review most of the major explosions, taking place in defunct District South, were linked to what transpired on 9/11.

The first blast of 2002 occurred on the new year’s night, soon after midnight, in which eight persons were injured at a bowling alley called Area 51 — situated near Marina Club, Defence Housing Authority. Several vehicles parked inside the club were damaged in the explosion.

In the month of April new technology was employed by the terrorists when two cellular phone sets were used to detonate a parcel bomb sent to a residence of a retired army official in Clifton.

After careful investigations the experts had said that two mobile phones were used in the bombing. One was used to send a signal to the other one, which was attached to explosive material, triggering off the explosion.

Fortunately, no one was present in the room where the parcel bomb had been placed, the police said.

The city witnessed three blasts in the first two days of May. One blast occurred on the day on which the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and JSQM had jointly called a strike. The other had taken place a day earlier.

The blasts were caused by crackers which left one dead and three persons injured, including a young Afghan boy. The boy later died of his injuries.

On May 5 fourteen persons, including 11 Frenchmen, were killed and 18 injured by a suicide bomber who pulled up his car near a Pakistan Navy bus in front of Sheraton Hotel. The PN bus was carrying the ill-fated Europeans.

The suicide bomber was driving a 1981 Corolla which was blown to pieces. The investigators ascertained the weight of the bomb to be around 3kg.

The 11 Frenchmen were assisting Pakistan Navy on the Augusta Submarine project. Following the bombing, work on the project was halted.

Work was later resumed, however, following the arrival of a new batch of French technicians.

On June 14, ten persons died and 51 were injured when a moving vehicle blew up in front of the US Consulate, causing massive devastation.

Initially it was claimed that a vehicle belonging to a driving institute, carrying four women, had blown up. Later, foreign investigating agencies came up with the theory that a bomb, being carried in a Suzuki pick-up driven by two men, had exploded.

Later still, some investigators came up with the theory which involved a fertiliser bomb. Police suspected the bomb to be of about 4kg.

On Oct 16, eight persons were injured when three parcel bombs went off at the offices of Sindh Home Department, Crime Investigation Department (in Civil Lines) and the DIG Operations.

Another bomb — fourth in the series — was detected by the police outside the DIG Operations office and was defused before it could explode. All the bombs carried the massage: “A gift from MMA”.

Later an E-mail, sent to the newspaper offices allegedly by the outlawed group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, claimed responsibility for the explosions.

On the night of Dec 5 an explosion ripped through offices of the honorary counsel general of Macedonia in DHA, killing three persons. Initially the victim had been identified as Hameed, a guard at the consulate.

Bodies of a man and a woman were also recovered after the blast. They were later identified as 40-year-old Asif Khan, a chef hailing from Gujranwala, and Ghazala Parveen, aged 37.

The consulate’s premises were badly damaged in the blast, which investigators suspected, was caused by dynamite. The site of the blast was also examined by the officials of FBI and Pakistan Navy.

At least four persons including a woman died in an explosion which ripped through a house in Korangi on the morning of Dec 19. The police said a house located in Allahwala Town, in sector 31-B Korangi, collapsed after a big bang at around 9.45am.

The blast caused the entire structure to shake. Some window panes of the adjacent buildings were broken into pieces due to the explosion’s impact.

Initial reports had suggested that the building had collapseddue to unknown reasons. But later, following the recovery of some body parts from the debris, police ascertained that a blast had occurred at the premises.

Mutilated body parts were also recovered from the neighbouring house. Following the blast, police claimed that one of the four deceased was Asif Ramzi, the notorious group chief of the banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.