Karachi struck by renewed bomb attacks

Deutsche Welle

Blasts have struck Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, the fourth series of attacks in the city in five days. The bombs targeted two political parties and a Shiite religious gathering, killing several people. The first bomb exploded outside the office of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) on Saturday in the Qasba Colony of Orangi Town, a district in the northwestern part of Karachi, according to the Pakistani news website Dawn.Although the MQM office was closed at the time, at least one person was killed and 24 were others were wounded in the blast, local police official Zahid Hussain told the AFP news agency. Hussain said that a hand grenade was then thrown at a Shiite mosque in Orangi Town, injuring 10 people. The third bomb attack targeted a campaign meeting of the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) in Lyari neighborhood, killing at least two people and wounding 15 others, according to police official Muhammad Azim. That bomb had been planted on a motor bike. Bloody week in Karachi Nobody has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks. They came one day after the Pakistani Taliban targeted a rally of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Karachi with a car bomb attack, killing at least nine people. On Thursday, a bomb blast struck an MQM election office in Karachi's Nusart Bhutto Colony, leaving at least five people dead and 10 others wounded. On Tuesday, a bomb blast in the district of North Nazimabad killed five people and left 15 wounded. As Pakistan prepares for national elections on May 11, the Pakistani Taliban has said it would target liberal and secular parties, singling out the ANP, MQM and PPP. The threats and attacks have made it difficult for these parties to campaign, which could cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. May's polls will mark the first time in Pakistani history that a civilian government has successfully completed a full term in office and then handed over power through an election.