The army commander in the Pakistani city of Karachi narrowly escaped assassination on Thursday when gunmen attacked his convoy with gunfire and a bomb, killing at least nine people, officials said. A military spokesman denied that the city’s army corps commander, Lieutenant-General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, had been the target of the attack and said he was safe. But a security official and a senior military officer, who did not want to be identified, said the attack had been on Hayat’s motorcade and his driver had died. "The blast occurred when the corps commander’s jeep was approaching," the military officer said on condition of anonymity. "It was a well-planned ambush." However, he added: "The corps commander is safe."
The violence was just the latest to rock the volatile port city of Karachi after more 60 people were killed last month in violence involving rival Muslims sects and political foes. It comes six months after two attempts to assassinate president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi near Islamabad in December and underscores the difficulty he faces as a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror. Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said six soldiers, two policemen and one civilian were killed. He earlier said seven soldiers had died. "It is a terrorist attack aimed at destabilizing the country," he said. Mutahir Ahmed, a political analyst at the University of Karachi said the attack appeared linked to the crackdown on militants in the tribal regions. Mohammed Yousuf, a cook in a nearby apartment, said he saw three or four young men exchanging gunfire with the police. "Those boys looked like experts. I saw two policemen fall." |