February 11, 2009 2:40 PM
- Text
Deadly Blasts Rip Through Pakistani City
(CBS/ AP)
A string of explosions wounded at least 25 people Monday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police said.
The five blasts came within about an hour the day after a deadly suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad, killed 18 people, most of them police officers.
Residential and commercial areas were struck in Karachi. It was unclear if any security officials were among the wounded.
A senior Pakistani government official told CBS News on condition of anonymity that the blasts appeared to be a determined attempt to damage Pakistan's business confidence. "Everyone knows, Karachi is Pakistan's business capital. It is therefore possible that whoever wants to destabilize our country, is doing so by causing this damage to Karachi," he said.
Babar Khattak, the Sindh province police chief, said at least two of the blasts involved "low-intensity explosive material." Karachi police chief Wasim Ahmad said five blasts occurred.
Television footage showed ambulances rushing people through crowded streets to hospitals, and wounded lying in hospital beds with bloody bandages.
Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub is a teeming port city where militant and political violence commonly breaks out.
In October, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto narrowly escaped a suicide attack that struck a rally of thousands of supporters welcoming her home from exile. More than 140 people were killed in that attack. Bhutto was slain in a separate attack in December in Rawalpindi.
The five blasts came within about an hour the day after a deadly suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad, killed 18 people, most of them police officers.
Residential and commercial areas were struck in Karachi. It was unclear if any security officials were among the wounded.
A senior Pakistani government official told CBS News on condition of anonymity that the blasts appeared to be a determined attempt to damage Pakistan's business confidence. "Everyone knows, Karachi is Pakistan's business capital. It is therefore possible that whoever wants to destabilize our country, is doing so by causing this damage to Karachi," he said.
Babar Khattak, the Sindh province police chief, said at least two of the blasts involved "low-intensity explosive material." Karachi police chief Wasim Ahmad said five blasts occurred.
Television footage showed ambulances rushing people through crowded streets to hospitals, and wounded lying in hospital beds with bloody bandages.
Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub is a teeming port city where militant and political violence commonly breaks out.
In October, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto narrowly escaped a suicide attack that struck a rally of thousands of supporters welcoming her home from exile. More than 140 people were killed in that attack. Bhutto was slain in a separate attack in December in Rawalpindi.
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