File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP
Three killed, five injured following explosion at Ghotki; one killed and seven injured after attack in Karachi
Two separate attacks targeted paramilitary Rangers personnel in Sindh on Friday, resulting in at least four deaths and 12 injuries.
The first incident, an explosion in Ghotki, targeted a Rangers vehicle parked at the Ghotki Railway Station, according to police. They said that at least three people—two Rangers personnel and a civilian—had been killed on the spot in the explosion, while five others were injured.
The injured and deceased have been shifted to hospital for treatment and medico-legal formalities, respectively, said the police, adding that the site of the incident had been cordoned off for investigations.
Separately, in provincial capital Karachi, a hand grenade was thrown near a Rangers vehicle posted at the Riaz Government Girls College in the Liaquatabad area. The college, closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, had been designated the regional office for the federal government’s Ehsaas relief program.
The explosion, which also wounded people waiting to withdraw funds under the relief program, left one dead and seven others wounded—one of them a Rangers personnel. According to the SSP Liaquatabad, the attack had also damaged the parked Rangers vehicle.
Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has said the culprits of the attack on the cash program center “would not be forgiven.” He directed law enforcement agencies to speedily arrest all those behind the assault.
No group has claimed responsibility for either attack as yet.
Today’s attacks raise to three the number of times the paramilitary Rangers have been targeted by militants in Sindh thus far in June. On June 11, a grenade attack in Karachi had left one Rangers official injured.