Express News office in Karachi attacked again

For the second time since August the office of Express News was attacked in Karachi on Monday evening by armed men who fired at the office for nearly ten minutes and threw two hand grenades which exploded near the gate.

A guard who saw the firing rushed out and returned the fire and he also saw the bombs exploding outside the office damaging vehicles. A cameraman who heard the firing came out of the office to see his badly damaged car with glass shattered. Three cars parked were damaged and some people were injured. The incident took place around 7 .15 pm.One employee had a narrow escape as he was driving out when the firing began .

The guard said he saw four or five people firing and they had come on two motorbikes. An Express group employee told

The Hindu on the phone that there were two groups of armed men. One group was firing from the lane outside the office while some others covered them from a flyover across. The armed men rained bullets at the office and there were so many lying around after the incident. Such an incident was unprecedented, he said and even worse than the August attack. One guard said he was injured in the attack. The employees said that the police mobile van was not stationed on the flyover today. On August 16 unidentified men opened fire at the office injuring two persons including a security guard.

CCTV shown on TV footage showed two blasts outside the office followed by firing. Police said three persons were injured in the attack.

The last time the police arrived over half an hour late and today too the armed men ran away after they saw the police which arrived some time after the firing began. The incident which has shocked the journalists’ community has been widely condemned.