KARACHI: The provincial authorities have sent DNA samples of remains of five unidentified victims of the Abbas Town bombing to Islamabad to determine their identity and hand over the remains to their families for burial, a senior official said on Monday.

“It is a long and complex procedure and is the only way to determine the identity of the victims of the bombing,” Sindh police surgeon Dr Aslam Pechuho told Dawn.

The investigators had gathered their limbs — from head and torso to arms, legs and fingers.

Officials said that they had succeeded in separating limbs and finally they turned out to be of five people.

“We have separated them, got their DNA samples and sent them to Islamabad for tests,” said Dr Pechuho, adding that it could take at least four weeks to obtain results.

Once the results were obtained, the police would ask the claimants to volunteer their DNA samples for matching, which would take a further one month.

Although doctors got DNA samples of the five unidentified victims, the authorities said that there were just three bodies, which could be preserved with the Edhi’s morgue.

The remains of two victims had been taken away by some individuals who claimed to be their relatives.