Karachi: Two Sea View bombers identified

Karachi: It usually does not happen; two of the four suicide bombers who died in the Sea View blast on Wednesday night have been identified by the police.

They are Shoaib-ur-Rehman and Ateeq ur-Rehman, both from Swat. They had been living in Nazimabad and Banaras Colony.

The deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) told The News that they identified the terrorists through their fingerprints and the Nadra record.

He said two suspects — Saif-ur-Rehman and Ateeq-ur-Rehman – were arrested on Thursday in a raid on a house in North Nazimabad for their alleged involvement in the botched terror plot. Ateeq runs his own rent-a-car business. The police also claimed to have arrested the father of one of the suicide bombers from Nazimabad.

The DIG said that the hi-roof used in the blast belonged to Maqbool Ahmed Khokhar in Hyderabad. Khokhar had already been arrested along with his son.

Two policemen died when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Village Restaurant in the upmarket Defence Phase VIII on Wednesday night. According to the police, five terrorists died in the attack; two of them were wearing suicide jackets and two had to identify their target.

The police said that a VIP was expected to visit the area at the time of the blast.

However, Home Minister Manzoor Wassan said that the motive behind the attack was still unknown.

“An investigation is under way to ascertain the motive and the target of the terrorists. We have also arrested some suspects who are being interrogated,” he told journalists after offering funeral prayers for the two policemen, Mamraiz Khan and Maula Bux, who had challenged the terrorists and were killed in the blast.

Answering a query, the home minister confirmed that sub-machineguns, hand grenades, rounds and suicide jackets were found from the wreckage of the vehicle in which the terrorists had been travelling.

He said that the evidence found from the scene of the crime suggested that there was a woman among the terrorists.

The home minister paid rich tributes to the martyred police cops and said that they foiled a huge terrorist plot. He gave Rs10,000 each to three sons of Mamraiz Khan and two daughters and a son of Maula Bux.

Wassan also announced a reward of Rs2 million each for the heirs and a job to one heir of each martyred policeman.

The original article can be found at The News.

[google-map]