PAKISTAN: Suspected car bomb kills four, including an American, in Karachi ahead of U.S. President Bush's visit to Pakistan

Record ID: 357794

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Suspected car bomb kills four, including an American, in Karachi ahead of U.S. President Bush's visit to Pakistan
  • Date: 3rd March 2006
  • Summary: PARAMILITARY AND FIREMEN TRYING TO MOVE VEHICLE (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA7W6313SZD8SJHTWCZS7SSRZZ
  • Story Text: A suspected suicide car bomb attack outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi killed an American and at least three other people on Thursday (March 2), but U.S. President George W. Bush said "terrorists" would not stop his visit to Pakistan.
    "At five past morning, it (the blast) took place, and about seven to eight people have been injured. We are investigating and this is, as I said, targeted only to create a scare and is not targeted against any specific target," said Niaz Ahmad Siddiqui, Karachi's police chief.
    The American, identified by Pakistan officials as David Foy, was killed along with his driver and a Pakistani paramilitary trooper in the attack.
    A fourth body has not been identified, but police suspect it to be that of a suicide bomber. Police had earlier said five people were killed in the attack.
    The blast came less than 48 hours before Bush was due to hold talks in Pakistan on Saturday, though he is not expected to visit the southern city of Karachi during his short visit.
    Addressing a news conference in New Delhi just hours after the blasts, Bush said he wouldn't change his plan to go to Pakistan at the end of his three-day visit to India. This is Bush's first visit to south Asia.
    Footage recorded by security cameras installed at the consulate showed a bearded man of medium height and wearing a traditional shalwar-kameez tunic, parking his car near the site of the attack.
    A paramilitary vehicle stationed nearby tried to intercept him. "But unfortunately, the suicide bomber managed to hit the U.S consulate vehicle," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
    The blast created a crater one metre (yard) deep and four metres wide in the middle of the road.
    A Reuters reporter saw wounded being carried away by ambulance, including a child who was identified as a Moroccan. Of the wounded, three were in critical condition, doctors said.
    Witnesses said they heard a second, smaller blast but police said it was caused by a car's gas cylinder exploding.
    "It was time I had just resumed my (security) duty. A car came and the driver was parking it. One of my colleagues stooped him from parking the car there. During two minutes before he could park the car properly, the blast occurred and one of our (paramilitary) soldiers died," an injured paramilitary soldier said.
    Bush is provisionally scheduled to fly to Pakistan late on Friday, and his official programme in Islamabad runs through Saturday, a Pakistani official who requested anonymity said. His original schedule had him going to Pakistan early on Saturday.
    His visit to Pakistan is seen by analysts as a gesture of support for President Pervez Musharraf, an important ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
    Islamist opposition parties have organised a national day of protest on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad published in Europe and elsewhere.
    Although the cartoons, deemed blasphemous, originated in Denmark, demonstrations over the past few weeks have morphed into expressions of anti-U.S. sentiment and anger with Musharraf's government and his alliance with the United States.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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