Multiple bombings rock Pakistan's Sindh province

Nationalist group suspected.

Karachi:  A series of low-intensity bomb blasts spread across Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring 11 others according to police figures.

A police official in Hyderabad said the blasts were linked to a strike called by a banned nationalist group, Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, in protest over a recently enacted anti-terror law.

“The blasts are aimed at spreading fear and panic among people,” said senior police superintendent, Fida Hussain Mastoi.

The blasts hit nearly every city in Sindh, including the provincial capital Karachi, within a span of one hour.

At least 32 hand grenades were detonated in Karachi, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Larkana, Naushero Feroze, Dadu and other cities in Sindh.

The first blast took place in Hyderabad, where unidentified assailants on a motorcycle lobbed a hand grenade at a shop, killing one person. Minutes later, a second blast at another Hyderabad location wounded another.

In Qasimabad, gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint followed by a bomb attack which injured an officer.

In Kotri, masked men set a minibus, oil tanker and two other vehicles on fire and sped away. Firefighters reached the scene and extinguished the fire.

In Karachi, a blast at the Khyber Hotel injured four people. A second blast in the city injured four more, police said.

Several blasts were also reported in the town of Dadu resulting in minor property damage but no injuries, authorities said.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said in a press statement that he ordered police to quickly arrest the culprits and charge them under anti-terrorism laws.

More than a dozen suspects were apprehended in overnight raids in Hyderabad and other cities of the province, according to the police.

Source: ucanews.com