Seven suspected militants killed in Karachi blast

Jan 8, 2010, 12:56 GMT

   Islamabad - Seven suspected militants were killed Friday when a blast tore through a house where explosives were being stored in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, police said.

   The house, located in the Baldia Town neighbourhood, collapsed in what police believed was an accidental explosion, and officers said they suspected those killed were members of a militant group planning terrorist attacks in the country's industrial and financial capital.

   'Six corpses and some mutilated body parts have been recovered from the rubble,' said Sohail Afzal, a local police officer investigating the incident.

   Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that the house was occupied by men from the Swat Valley in north-western Pakistan, where security forces launched an operation in the spring to quell a Taliban insurgency.

   More than 2,000 militants were killed in the first two months of intense fighting. Sporadic clashes are continuing there as troops carry out operations to eliminate remaining pockets of resistance.

   Malik said visitors from Swat arrived at the house before dawn Friday and were taken to a courtyard where the explosion took place nearly five hours later.

   The same account was given by a suspect, who was injured in the blast and later captured by police, the Express News television channel reported.

   Express News cited unnamed officials as saying that the suspect - identified by a single name, Imran - told investigators that three suicide bombers had put on explosive vests and one went off accidentally as its wearer was dozing.

   Two unexploded suicide vests, about two dozen hand grenades and small arms with spare magazines were seized from the ruins.

   Karachi's police chief, Waseem Ahmad, said at least six people were taken into custody after the explosion. Not all those captured were present in the house at the time of the explosion.

   It was thought that the suspected bombers were planning to strike mosques because it was Friday, the day when Muslims offer prayers in large numbers.

   The blast came after a bomb went off last week in Karachi at a religious march by minority Shiite Muslims, killing more than 40 people.

   Pakistan has been hit by a wave of bombings since October when nearly 30,000 soldiers began a major offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in their stronghold of South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

   These assaults have killed more than 600 people in the past three months.