(19 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Karachi, Pakistan – 19 April 2024
1. Wide of scene of suicide attack with damaged van, which was carrying Japanese autoworkers, and police
2. Mid of police officer
3. Various of damaged van and police collecting evidence
4. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Tariq Elahi Mastoi, Police Senior Superintendent:
“The foreigners were moving. They are working in an enterprise company, so they were going from their residence to their workplace when a suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked their van and blew himself up, and the other attacker was neutralized by police present at the scene.”
5. Wide of officials around a covered body
6. Various of officials working at the scene
STORYLINE:
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near a van carrying Japanese autoworkers, who narrowly escaped the attack Friday that wounded three bystanders in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, police said.
The van had been heading to an industrial area where the five Japanese nationals worked at Pakistan Suzuki Motors, local police chief Arshad Awan said.
Awan said the three passersby who were wounded in the attack were in stable condition at a hospital.
"They were going from their residence to their workplace when a suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked their van and blew himself up, and the other attacker was neutralized by police present at the scene," confirmed Police Senior Superintendent Tariq Elahi Mastoi.
Police were escorting the van after receiving reports about possible attacks on foreigners who are working in Pakistan on various Chinese-funded and other projects, said Mastoi.
He said a timely and quick response from the guards and police foiled the attack and both attackers were killed.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attack on the Japanese nationals.
In separate statements, they praised police for quickly responding and foiling the attack.
They also vowed to eliminate terrorism and prayed for the speedy recovery of those wounded in the attack.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on a small separatist group or the Pakistani Taliban who have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent years.
Insurgents have also targeted Chinese who are working in Pakistan on projects relating to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which includes a multitude of megaprojects such as road construction, power plants and agriculture.
In March, five Chinese and their Pakistani driver were killed when a suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan rammed his explosive-laden car into a vehicle when they were heading to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan, where they worked.
However, Japanese working in Pakistan have not been the target of any such attacks.
Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan and the capital of southern Sindh province.
AP video shot by Muhammad Farooq
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