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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Extremists behind car bomb plot, police say |
| 2004-03-17 |
| Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? A foiled car bomb attack on the United States consulate in Karachi appears to have been plotted by Islamic extremists, police said on Tuesday. The police averted a potentially massive explosion when they discovered and defused 650 litres of powerful chemical explosives, carried in a Suzuki van which had been parked outside the heavily-guarded consulate building in Karachi on Monday. Two detonators and a timer were also found in the van. The lethal cocktail of ammonium nitrate, hydrogen peroxide, and nitrogen oxide was set to explode some 20 minutes after bomb experts defused it, police said. Inspector General of Sindh police Syed Kamal Shah called the plot an attempted terrorist attack. He dismissed the possibility of the involvement of Osama bin Ladenâs Al-Qaeda terror network. âI donât think Al-Qaeda is behind it, nor were they suicide bombers,â he said. Washington praised Pakistani police for averting the planned attack. âWe would praise the very alert and courageous action of all those involved in detecting and responding to what could have been a horrific explosion,â US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington. |
| Posted by:Fred |