An explosive laden vehicle rammed into a Sindh police bus killing at least 13 men and injuring over 40 others on Thursday morning in Karachi. The bus was leaving the police training centre at Razzaqabad in Karachi east when the explosion took place on a U turn, police said. While initially it was suspected to be a suicide bombing, TV reports said they had CCTV footage which showed a motorcycle rider leaving the van who probably detonated it using a remote controlled device. The policemen were going to Bilawal House for security detail and there were some 50 of them on the bus.
Doctors at the Jinnah hospital said the victims mostly suffered head, face and upper torso injuries and at least ten of them were in a critical condition. About 50 people are reportedly injured including passersby. An estimated 25 to 30 kg of explosives could have been used in the attack.
Meanwhile, Dawn reported that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. The TTP said this was in retaliation for targeted killings in Mardan, Swabi and Peshawar. The government has repeatedly said that talks cannot go on in the background of terror strikes. In response to questions Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, special assistant to the Prime Minister and member of the government appointed committee for the peace talks told The Hindu that a formal reaction to the TTP claiming responsibility would be issued on Friday. The four member government appointed committee was meeting on Friday morning to discuss the matter, he said.
Meanwhile, he said the committee had also written a letter to the TTP nominated committee which had recently gone to meet the Taliban leadership in Waziristan. The TTP leadership had raised certain issues which required a clarification from the government and these points have been clarified, Mr. Siddiqui said. He said these were sensitive issues which could not be discussed in the media as yet.
