8 killed in suicide attack in Karachi

Karachi: A Taliban suicide bomber on Monday rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the home of a senior police officer in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, killing at least eight persons and injuring several others.

The bomber targeted the residence of Special Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Aslam of the Crime Investigation Department in the posh Defence area at 7.30 am, reducing the house to rubbles.

Eight persons, including a woman, a child and six policemen, were killed in the attack, police officials said. The dead and injured were taken to the nearby Jinnah Hospital.

Aslam, who escaped unhurt, told reporters that several of his police guards were among the dead.

He said he had been receiving threats from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups. He vowed that he would not be deterred by such cowardly attacks.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, Geo News channel reported.

The officer and his family were shifted to an undisclosed location soon after the attack.

Aslam was part of a special unit that conducted operations against militants and criminal gangs and he had captured several persons linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The blast, which was heard from several kilometres away, damaged several nearby houses and cars parked in the area. The explosion caused a 10-foot deep and 25-foot wide crater.

Debris from the officer's home was hurled over a large distance. Footage on television showed the wall and facade of the officer's two-storey building were destroyed by the blast. A plume of smoke was seen rising into the sky.

Several schools and educational institutions are located

near the officer's home and the blast was followed by a traffic snarl as parents rushed to the area to pick up their children.

The woman killed in the blast was a school teacher while the dead child was her 12-year-old son, officials at Jinnah Hospital said.

Karachi has witnessed several high-profile terrorist attacks, including one in May on the Mehran naval airbase that killed 10 security personnel.

Aslam himself was the target of another attack that killed two of his bodyguards.