"The bomb was planted on a motorbike and exploded outside a textile factory in the Landi district of Karachi. At least seven people are dead and about 20 wounded," senior police official Mohammed Javed told reporters as rescue workers rushed to the scene.
However other officials said at least ten dead bodies, including two of children, were shifted to the nearby Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Center following Monday’s, BosNewsLife established. Dozens more were injured, several officials said.
It came as another set-back for pro-democracy activists, including Christians, who have expressed concerns about a rise in Islamic extremism across the country.
CONDEMNING ATTACK
The chairman of advocacy group Rays of Development with Website raysofdevelopment.org, Ferhan Mazhar, told BosNewsLife his group "condemned the attack." He said it was high time for "the government to beef up security to save the precious lives of innocent Pakistanis."
The violence has been linked to attempts by militants to disrupt the upcoming February 18 vote. The elections for the lower house National Assembly and assemblies in Pakistan’s four provinces were postponed from January 8 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27.
However in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife Tuesday, January 15, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said troops would be ordered "to shoot anyone trying to disrupt the [upcoming] general elections."
SECURITY FORCES
Special security forces could be seen stepping up security in Karachi. Injured people covered in blood and with their clothes blown off by the force of the blast were brought to hospitals in ambulances and pick-up trucks. Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema was shocked about the devastation. "As soon as the bomb went off the electricity pylon caught fire and the lights went out. There were bodies lying all around and I could hear people screaming in the darkness," he added.
Wounded people covered in blood and with their clothes blown off by the force of the blast were brought to hospitals in ambulances and the back of pick-up trucks. There were concerns of more violence Tuesday, January 15. It comes at a particular difficult moment for Pakistan’s Christian minority, which has been in the cross-fire of the fight against Islamic extremism, BosNewsLife learned.
Besides violence, impoverished Christians also try to deal with Pakistan’s worst crisis of Wheat-flour, gas and electricity shortages. Impoverished Christians, who depend entirely on daily wages, are increasingly finding it difficult to feed their families, housewives waiting in lines for food told BosNewsLife.
