Same group behind grenade attacks on schools in city: Thebo

Karachi
The grenade attacks outside private schools in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and North Nazimabad, last month and then two days ago, have been carried out by the same group, according to city police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo.
“The grenade attack outside a private school in North Nazimabad on Wednesday and the previous one outside a school in Gulshan-e-Iqbal are similar and have probably been carried out by the same group. The explosives used in both attacks are similar and so are the pamphlets thrown afterwards,” said Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Qadir Thebo while talking to The News on Thursday.
Though, he said, the city police was still unable to ascertain the group’s identity, one thing was clear that the attacks were carried out by the same group which wanted to create panic among students and the educational community.
Thebo maintained that besides the Karachi police, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and few other investigation agencies had also been asked to launch parallel investigations into the attacks on schools.
“Other measures are also being taken in this regard and we are sure that this group will not remain at large any longer,” he remarked.
When asked if the attacks could be a reaction to government policies, the city police chief said children had nothing to do with the hangings of convicted terrorists and expulsion of Afghan mujahideen.
“The children studying at private schools and those in seminaries as both are innocent,” he said. “There is no justification of harassing them by targeting schools with explosives.”
He said the cameras installed outside schools in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and North Nazimabad hadn’t helped the police investigators in identifying the attackers. “We have asked the schools’ administrations to improve the quality of their surveillance,” he said.
A private school in North Nazimabad was attacked with a grenade on Wednesday, little over a month after a similar attack in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
Nobody was hurt in the attack as students were attending classes. Only a watchman was present at the gate and he remained unhurt.
However, the attack created an atmosphere of fear and panic at the school. Police, Rangers and parents rushed to the scene as the school was evacuated and children were sent home.
Police said two men riding a motorcycle threw the explosive outside the Beaconhouse School in Block-B of North Nazimabad.
They also left behind a note, both in Urdu and English, threatening to attack schools following missionary, military and foreign educational systems, their owners, principals and teachers in retaliation against the hanging of their colleagues in the country’s jails.

Case registered
The North Nazimabad police registered a case (FIR No 53/15) against unidentified persons for throwing explosive material outside a private school on Wednesday morning.
An official of the North Nazimabad police said the case had been lodged on behalf of the state unidentified culprits under Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act and extortion clauses in the Pakistan Penal Code.

New office set up
The new Karachi Police Office established behind Saddar police station was inaugurated on Thursday.
The city police chief and his staff, along with DIG Admin and the Karachi police’s media cell have been relocated to the newly-established facility, which will also supervise FIR registered online.
Commenting on recent killings of police personnel in Karachi, the city police chief claimed that the murders of four police officials in Preedy and Aram Bagh areas had been targeted by terrorists while those killed in Banaras and Ferozabad areas had been attacked by drug peddlers and dacoits, respectively.
On the other hand, he said, the traffic warden killed near Clifton Bridge was also murdered over some personal enmity.