KARACHI, Dec 12: Two improvised explosive devices went off outside the houses of a businessman and a transporter in Manghopir’s Mianwali Colony in the small hours of Wednesday causing damage to the two houses and neighbouring properties, police said.

They said that it appeared that the blasts were carried out by members of the extortion mafia threatening the businessman and the transporter to pay Rs20 million and Rs5 million, respectively.

Neither blast caused any causality.

The first blast took place outside the double-storey house of Haji Retas Khan, who lives on the first floor.

The police initially suspected that it was a grenade attack, but the magnitude of the damage made them change their assessment.

Area DSP Zahid Hussain said that some shops, including a bakery, were built on the ground floor of the building. The bakery remained open till 1.30am and the bomb exploded at 2am, he said.He said that the blast badly damaged the bakery, the two floors of the building, windscreens of vehicles parked in the street and windowpanes of several houses in the area.

“We believe that an improvised explosive time device was placed outside the bakery after it was closed. The owner has told the police that he had been getting threats from an extortion mafia for almost a month,” said DSP Hussain. “They have been demanding Rs20 million and threatened him of dire consequences if he failed to meet their demand. However, no complaint regarding extortion threats had been made with the police.”

Within two hours of the first explosion, another bomb exploded outside the house of former union council nazim and transporter Haji Aurangzeb Khan in the same area.

DSP Hussain said that some witnesses told the police that they saw two men fleeing on a motorbike from Haji Khan’s street about a minute before the second blast.

The area DSP said that the transporter was also getting threats from the extortion mafia, who demanded that he pay Rs5 million.

The bomb disposal unit said that one kilogram and 200 grams of explosives were used in the first and second IEDs, respectively.

Two separate cases (FIR Nos 529/2012 and 531/2012) were registered at the Pirabad police station on the complaints of Haji Retas and Haji Khan regarding attacks on their residences under Sections 324 (attempted murder), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 3/4 of the Explosive Substance Act and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 against unidentified persons.