Grenade attack in Kharadar market leaves one dead, three injured

A man was killed while three others were injured when two unidentified men lobbed a hand grenade through a back door of the busy Kochan Wala Market in Kharadar in what police termed an attack on traders for “refusing to pay extortion”.

According to District City Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Adeel Chandio, two men arrived at the back door of the market on a motorbike and sped away after hurling a grenade inside.

Four people were injured in the blast and were taken to Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries. The deceased was identified as 65-year-old Abdus Sattar, while the injured were identified as 40-year-old Ismail, 30-year-old Waqas and 35-year-old Babu.

The attack at one of the city’s busiest trading centres during working hours created chaos and fear, and traders decided to pull their shutters down and kept them down for a few hours. A heavy contingent of police and paramilitary Rangers reached the site of the blast and cordoned it off. Later, a team of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) arrived to collect evidence. The BDS report stated that a locally-manufactured grenade was used in the attack.

Sharing more details, City Division SP Shehla Qureshi said the traders of the market told police that they had been receiving threats of dire consequences over non-payment of monthly extortion.

According to SP Shehla, the traders told them that they had been paying Rs500 each per month to gangsters from Lyari, but gradually reduced the amount to Rs50 per month after successful police crackdowns against them.

She added that for the past few months, the traders had completely stopped paying extortion money, yet they continued to face pressure from the gangsters to at least pay Rs50 per shop a month.

Stating that the attack was not carried out by an organised group, Shehla speculated that unemployed youth may be involved hoping to restore their financial lifeline after their main leadership has either been killed or arrested during the Karachi operation.

Later, traders gathered on main MA Jinnah Road to protest the grenade attack and demanded that the CM and Sindh police chief take steps for the arrest of the people involved and to provide security to traders.

They ended the protest after police officials ensured them of swift action. Home Minister Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal took notice of the matter on media reports and ordered a detailed inquiry.