Cases registered under ATA over attack on Rangers at KU, bid to explode foreigner’s car

A day after a terrorist plan failed in the Clifton area on Tuesday when a magnetic RDX explosive device attached to a foreigner’s SUV did not explode and another terrorist activity was committed outside a gate of the University of Karachi where a Russian hand grenade explosion injured two Rangers soldiers and as many others, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police registered separate cases on Wednesday under the anti-terrorism and explosive laws.

Obtaining CCTV footage of the incidents, police and CTD investigators recorded statements of the witnesses and expanded investigations into the two incidents.

An FIR No 199/20 under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Explosives Act was registered at the CTD Civil Lines on behalf of the state against two unidentified motorcyclists who fixed an explosive device to the car of a foreigner owning the China Town restaurant in Clifton.

In the FIR, the restaurant owner told police that he left his residence in the Boat Basin area as per routine at around 10:30am on Tuesday and reached the restaurant at around 11am while passing through Khayaban-e-Saadi and Ali Baba Chowrangi.

He added that he was parking his SUV when two men riding a motorcycle came from the opposite side and attached some device on the driving side of the vehicle, which panicked him. Shortly after the suspects escaped, a minor explosion occurred, in which he remained safe. It was later revealed that the suspects had attached an explosive device with the vehicle that did not explode. The bomb was defused by experts of the bomb disposal squad.

According to the initial report of the bomb disposal squad, the motorcyclists had triggered the detonator but due to good fortune it could not explode the RDX-based magnetic device. Police investigators believe that had the bomb exploded, it would have led to massive destruction.

The investigators claimed on Wednesday to have discovered the routes that the suspects used to arrive at and flee from the restaurant through CCTV footage. They further claimed that they had recognised the face of one of the suspects who fitted the bomb on the SUV.

The CTD also registered another FIR No 200/20 on behalf of the state under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Explosive Act against unidentified suspects for attacking on Tuesday a Rangers picket at the Sheikh Zayed gate of the KU with a grenade that injured four, including two Rangers personnel and a security guard.

The Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army has claimed the responsibility of both the terrorist incidents and the investigators also believe that RAW-backed nationalist party is behind the incident.