Karachi Blast : Death Toll reaches 37 among dozens injured

The blasts took place in quick succession outside a mosque. Two nearby buildings caved in due to the blasts and some people trapped under the rubble.

Rescue teams evacuated the trapped people and shifted the injured to Abbasi Shaheed and Jinnah Hospitals.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have strongly condemned the blasts and expressed sympathies with heirs of the victims.

According to DSP Sachal Qamar Ahmed, the explosive device was planted inside a motorcycle, which the perpetrators parked in populous residential/commercial area.

The blasts damaged many buildings and dozens of shops, sources said.

“So powerful was the explosion that the facades of several apartments facing the site of blast were blown off the buildings. Windowpanes of most of the surrounding buildings turned into smithereens. Even some doors came off the hinges”, they added.

Moreover the natural gas leaking profusely from broken the plumbing is also posing a serious threat as people have been warned not to strike matches or smoke in the area, sources warned further. Later the gas company announced it had disconnected the supply to the area.

They said these cowardly acts cannot deter our determination to eliminate terrorism from the country.

President Asif Ali Zardari telephoned Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah and sought information regarding today’s Karachi blasts.

He ordered for enhanced compensation to the affected families.

Earlier‚ Sindh Chief Minister had announced 1.5 million rupees each for the heirs of those martyred in the blasts and one million rupees for each injured.