`Biggest Ever' Karachi Bombing Shows Taliban War's Spread to Finance Hub
Pakistani investigators inspect the bomb blast site
Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images
The bombing of a police headquarters in the heart of Karachi marks an escalation in Pakistan’s financial capital of the war between security forces and Taliban militants, police officials and analysts say.
The bombing of a police headquarters in the heart of Karachi marks an escalation in Pakistan’s financial capital of the war between security forces and Taliban militants, police officials and analysts say. Photographer: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images
The bombing of a police headquarters in the heart of Karachi marks an escalation in Pakistan’s financial capital of the war between security forces and Taliban militants, police officials and analysts say.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the evening attack yesterday on a building housing the Crime Investigation Department, whose counter-terrorism unit had arrested a group of Taliban guerrillas in the city. At least 21 people died in the raid, said Imran Ahmed of the Edhi Foundation ambulance service.
The bomb, the most powerful ever to detonate in Karachi, showed the Taliban “are now bringing their game into this city as their final fight,” said the operations chief for Karachi police, Deputy Inspector General Iftikhar Tarrar. “Karachi police started gaining the upper hand recently after we arrested several of their men,” Tarrar said in a phone interview.
Karachi, a city of 18 million people, is home to Pakistan’s main stock exchange, its central bank and offices of companies such as Rotterdam-based Unilever and London-headquartered Standard Chartered Plc. Political street battles, notably between ethnic Mohajirs, immigrants from India, and a burgeoning population of Pashtuns who have moved from impoverished and Taliban-dominated parts of northwestern Pakistan, have escalated this year. At least 66 people were killed over four days of violence last month.
Gunmen attacked the police building’s outer gate, letting another man drive a truck bomb into the compound and detonate it. The blast collapsed much of the building and shattered windows in the neighborhood, which includes the provincial governor’s residence, the U.S. Consulate and major hotels.
Militants Flee
Pakistani officials have voiced concern that army offensives that began last year in several northwestern districts prompted Taliban militants to flee to Karachi.
“Such militants attacking the cities are more dangerous than those fighting in the mountains because they are challenging the core authority of the government by entering their strongholds, paralyzing the economic and development activities of the country,” said Rana Saba, the criminology department chief at the University of Karachi.
To contact the reporter on this story: Khurrum Anis in Karachi at kkhan14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Foxwell at sfoxwell@bloomberg.net
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