The attackers initially exchanged fire with guards outside the office of the Crime Investigation Department, located in a high security zone at a short distance from the Chief Minister’s official residence and several five-star hotels and consulates.
After getting past a barricade and disrupting power in the area, the attackers detonated the explosives-laden truck at 8:17 pm (local time). The powerful blast destroyed the facade of the CID office and reduced the nearby Civil Lines police station to rubble. It also uprooted trees, blew out windows of nearby structures and shook buildings located several kilometres away.
Officials told the media that at least 18 people were killed and 115 others injured. The dead included several policemen and security personnel. The relatives of policemen, including women and children, living in nearby residential quarters were among the injured.
Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza compared the attack to the suicide car bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed nearly 60 people in September 2008. Guards who tried to stop the attackers were among those killed, Mirza said. The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the blast and warned it would carry out more attacks if its demands were not met, Geo News channel reported.
Conflicting reports
It could not immediately be ascertained whether the attackers were killed in the blast. There were conflicting reports on the number of militants involved in the attack, with figures ranging from two to four.
Witnesses said some of the attackers were riding motorcycles. The blast created a crater 15 to 20 feet wide and equally deep.
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