CTD registers Saddar bombing case against SRA masterminds, facilitators

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police on Saturday registered a case against a separatist group of Sindh – Sindudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) — and its facilitators under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other laws over Thursday’s explosion in Saddar that resulted in one death and several injuries.

The FIR No 27/22 includes the Section of 7 of the ATA, a section of the Explosives Act and sections of the Pakistan Penal Code pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, arson and damage to property.

The case was registered on the complaint of Preedy SHO Sajjad Khan against the SRA masterminds and facilitators of the blast. According to the FIR, initial investigations have confirmed that the masterminds and facilitators of the SRA were behind the explosion in the Saddar area through a remote-controlled IED planted on a bicycle.

The FIR reads that a 19-year-old youth, Omer Siddiq, was killed and nine others wounded in the bombing.

No major breakthrough has been achieved in the Saddar bombing case with no major arrest reported in connection with the case.

The incident occurred at around 10:55pm on Thursday on Daudpota Road when 2.5 kilogrammes of explosive material, including ball bearings, exploded, causing chaos in the area.

On Friday, the investigators claimed to have identified a man in CCTV footage who detonated the explosive device when a vehicle of the Pakistan Coast Guards passed by the bicycle.

The investigators said they had obtained two CCTV videos that showed two suspects, one of whom was wearing a shirt and pants and he parked the bicycle.

Another young suspect wearing a black kameez parked his vehicle near a garbage dump and sat at a nearby teashop. As soon as he put his hands into his pocket apparently to detonate the bomb from a remote control, a blast followed.

Teenage girl ‘abducted’

Meanwhile, a family has come out claiming that a 15-year-old girl was kidnapped during the chaos that ensued after the blast.

The kidnapping case has been registered at the Preedy police station on the complaint of the girl’s brother Yasir Khan. The complainant stated in the FIR that his sister was abducted in the stampede following the blast. He said that they were residents of the Punjab Colony area and his mother and sister had gone for shopping to the Bohri Bazaar in Saddar on the day of the blast.

He added that the two were returning when the blast occurred. “When they [mother and sister] were returning, the bomb went off and people started running here and there, leaving my mother unconscious during the stampede,” he stated. “My mother found my sister disappeared when she gained her consciousness 15 minutes after the incident.”

The family said they searched for the girl thoroughly but did not find her, after which they approached the police. “The family had informed police and registered a missing complaint for the girl on the same day of the incident but then finally after the girl was not found, the family registered a kidnapping case against unidentified suspects,” the Preedy SHO explained.

“We did not find any clue of kidnapping so far from the available footage from CCTV cameras in the surroundings,” the officer said, adding that the police were carrying out investigations into the case.