Gunmen kill Saudi diplomat in Pakistan's Karachi

VICTIM IN ATTACK ON SAUDI ARABIAN CONSULATE CAR IN KARACHI WAS A SAUDI DIPLOMAT - AMBASSADOR



کراچی: سعودی قونصل خانے کا ملازم ہلاک
فائل فوٹو، کراچی دھماکہ

پاکستان کے صوبہ سندھ کے دارالحکومت کراچی میں حکام کا کہنا ہے کہ نامعلوم مسلح موٹر سائیکل سوار کی فائرنگ سے سعودی عرب کے قونصل خانے کا ایک ملازم ہلاک ہوگیا ہے۔

یہ واقعہ پیر کی صبح قونصل خانے کے قریب خیابان شہباز میں پیش آیا ہے۔

متقول کا نام حسن الکاہی بتایا گیا ہے جو قونصل خانے کا ملازم تھا۔

پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ مقتول سعودی شہری تھا۔

کلِک کراچی: سعودی قونصل خانے پر حملہ

ڈی آئی جی اقبال محمود جنوبی نے میڈیا کو بتایا کہ مقتول سامبا ہوٹل ڈیفنس میں رہتا تھا اور وہاں سے وہ ڈیوٹی پر قونصلیٹ جا رہے تھے کہ ان پر حملہ کیا گیا۔

کراچی سے بی بی سی کے نامہ نگار ریاض سہیل کا کہنا ہے کہ پولیس نے بتایا ہے کہ مقتول پر چار گولیاں فائر کی گئی ہیں جن میں سے ایک ان کے سر میں لگی ہے، اسی دوران ان کی گاڑی پول سے بھی ٹکراگئی ۔

حملہ آور موٹر سائیکل پر سوار تھا اور ابھی یہ تفتیش کی جائے گی کہ اسے کسی کار نے کور دیا ہوا تھا یا وہ اکیلا تھا

ڈی آئی جی

ڈی جی آئی کے مطابق حملہ آور موٹر سائیکل پر سوار تھا اور ابھی یہ تفتیش کی جائے گی کہ اسے کسی کار نے کور دیا ہوا تھا یا وہ اکیلا تھا۔

کراچی میں ہی پانچ روز قبل ہی سعودی قونصلیٹ پر کریکر سے حملہ کیا گیا تھا۔

پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ اس واقعے کے بعد قونصل خانے کی سکیورٹی میں اضافہ کر دیا گیا تھا۔

ڈی آئی جی اقبال محمود کا کہنا ہے کہ قونصل خانے کے بہت زیادہ ملازم ہیں۔

پولیس کی کوشش تھی کہ وہ جس جگہ رہتے ہیں اس جگہ انہیں سکیورٹی فراہم کی جائے۔

ان کے مطابق کراچی میں تعینات سفیر کی رہائش گاہ پر دوہری سکیورٹی ہے اور وہاں کسی موٹر سائیکل سوار کو جانے کی اجازت نہیں ہے۔

16 May 2011 05:11

Source: reuters // Reuters

(Adds on victim, attack)

KARACHI, May 16 (Reuters) - Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a car belonging to the Saudi Arabian consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday killing a Saudi diplomat, police and the Saudi ambassador said.

The attack came days after unidentified attackers threw two hand grenades at the Saudi consulate in the city, Pakistan's commercial hub. No one as hurt in that attack.

"We condemn this attack. No one who carries out this kind of attack can be a Muslim," the ambassador, Abdul Aziz al-Ghadeer, told Reuters. He did not give details on the rank of the diplomat who was killed.

Al Qaeda is violently opposed to the Saudi government and has vowed revenge for the killing of its leader, Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, by U.S. special forces in Pakistan on May 2.

"Four people riding on two motorcycles opened fire at the car from two sides," said a police official.

"The Saudi national killed was himself driving the car and was probably going to the consulate from his house," he said.

(Reporting by Faisal Aziz and Imtiaz Shah; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Saudi diplomat shot dead in Karachi: Embassy
By AFP
Published: May 16, 2011

Policemen inspect a damaged car, currently parked in a police station, in which a Saudi diplomat was travelling in when under attack by gunmen, in Karachi May 16, 2011. REUTERS

KARACHI: A Saudi diplomat was killed in a hail of bullets on his way to the country’s consulate in Karachi on Monday, the second attack on Saudi interests in the city in less than a week.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban denied carrying out the assassination and authorities said they were investigating possible links to sectarian groups or the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces on May 2. Earlier, AFP had reported that a spokesman for the militant outfit had claimed the attack.

Saudi Arabia said Hasan al-Khatani had been on his way to work at the consulate and demanded that Pakistan tighten security measures for its diplomats, following a grenade attack on the mission building last week.

Police said Khatani worked in the consulate’s security department and was driving a vehicle with diplomatic plates when two motorcycle riders unleashed a stream of gunfire at a crossroads in the city’s upmarket Defence neighbourhood.

Karachi city police chief Iqbal Mahmood said militants fired four rounds, killing him at the scene, and fled on their motorcycle.

“They came on a motorbike, they fired four shots. One bullet hit his head and he died on the spot,” he told reporters.

“We are investigating whether the assailants were provided any cover by a car in the area,” he added.

“We are investigating if it was linked to the Abbottabad operation or was an isolated incident,” said provincial home ministry official Sharfuddin Memon, calling the dead man a junior officer at the consulate.

A six-member police and intelligence team would investigate both attacks on the Saudi mission, whether they are connected and who was responsible, he said.

Last Wednesday, assailants on a motorbike threw two grenades at the consulate in what officials said could have been reaction to bin Laden’s death.

The TTP, blamed for some of the worst acts of violence in the country, last Friday claimed a double suicide bombing that killed 89 people outside a police training centre as their first revenge for Bin Laden.

But spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a telephone call to AFP: “We are not claiming the attack in which a Saudi diplomat was killed.

“We support the action but we are not afraid. Had we done it, we would have claimed it,” he added.

“Apart from a possible reaction by militants to bin Laden’s killing, we also suspect a sectarian link,” one senior security official told AFP.

“Normally the Taliban accept responsibility for attacks carried out by their operatives, but in this case they are silent, which is why we are not clear.”

Saudi condemns ‘criminal’ attack

Saudi Arabia condemned the attack as “criminal” and called on Pakistan to tighten security measures around the consulate in Karachi and the Islamabad embassy, a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by state media.

Last week, Saudi Arabia condemned the grenade assault as a “terror attack”, saying it had “full confidence” in Pakistan’s ability to bring the assailants to justice and provide the necessary protection to the Saudi mission.