At least ten dead in Karachi explosion
Created: 12/18/2021, 01:08 PM
The force of the explosion caused a commercial bank building to collapse.
© Fareed Khan / AP / dpa
A violent detonation occurs in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
Several people are killed.
There are many injured.
Initial investigations indicate a leak in the gas line.
Islamabad - According to a police spokesman, at least ten people were killed in an explosion in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
At least 13 others suffered injuries.
The type of explosion in the Sher Shah district was initially unclear, initial investigations indicated a leak in the gas pipeline near a bank building.
A terrorist attack was not ruled out either.
The number of deaths could rise because at least six injured were in critical condition, said one of the treating doctors.
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The force of the explosion caused a commercial bank building to collapse.
According to initial findings, the gas pipeline was located in a ditch next to the building, as Waqas Ahmad, a spokesman for the city police, told the German Press Agency.
The police bomb disposal squad was there to investigate the cause.
The incident had set the alarm bells ringing in the capital, Islamabad: It occurred just hours before the start of the 17th extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Ministers' Council of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad.
The meeting should look at the aggravation of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
Islamabad's city council had previously announced a three-day holiday rest as a security measure, suspended cell phone traffic and deployed large numbers of security forces to counter the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the TTP had intensified its attacks - apparently spurred on by the success of the Islamists in the neighboring country - until a temporary ceasefire was agreed in early November.
In December, however, the TTP terminated this ceasefire.
Since then he has been attacking again.
dpa