ISLAMABAD, May 13 (NNN-APP) – Thirteen people were injured when a blast went off inside a market area, in the capital city Karachi of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province late last night, hospital authorities said.
Many among the injured were in critical condition, and most of them got wounded after being hit by ball bearings from the explosive materials, Shahid Rasool, medical superintendent of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where all the injured were shifted, told the media.
Talking to the media, Information Minister of Sindh province, Sharjeel Inam Memon, said that, an investigation had been kicked off to determine the cause of the explosion, and a state of emergency had been imposed in all hospitals in the city.
Meanwhile, in a conversation, Salman Qureshi, a rescue worker with the nongovernment rescue organisation, Saylani Welfare Trust, said, rescue teams had shifted 16 injured people to the JPMC, where one of them succumbed to the injuries.
“The incident happened in a densely populated area and there were many pedestrians along the incident site, when the explosion happened,” he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, condemned the blast and directed the chief minister of Sindh to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured people, the prime minister’s office said in a statement, early today.– NNN-APP
Local TV channel ARY News quoted police sources as saying that explosive materials hidden in a garbage bin were detonated by unknown militants when a vehicle of Pakistan Coast Guards was passing by.
In a conversation with Xinhua, a spokesperson for the coast guards confirmed their vehicle was destroyed with five other vehicles in the blast but refused to comment on the official vehicle being the main target in the incident.
