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At least 8 killed in Bomb blast in Pakistani city of Karachi

Other News Materials 14 January 2008 22:47 (UTC +04:00)

( dpa ) - At least eight people, including two children, were killed in a bomb blast Monday night in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, local medical officials and media said.

The bomb was apparently planted inside an unattended motorcycle and detonated outside the gate of a textiles market in the city's northern Quaidabad district shortly after 8:00 pm (1500 GMT).Police said it was not a suicide attack.

Semi Jamal, an emergency room doctor at Karachi's Jinnah Hospital, said at least 30 people were wounded in the attack.

"We have so far received eight bodies, and among the dead are two children of 12 and 8 years old," she said. "We have around 30 injured, including two in critical condition."

DawnNews TV reported than 10 people were confirmed dead and at least 25 injured, while ARY TV said nine were killed and 50 injured.

However, Karachi Police Chief Azhar Farooqi told journalists that only five people were confirmed killed and 20 injured.

"I don't know who the target was - Maybe the general public," he said during a live televised interview with DawnNews TV. "It's a marketplace, pretty busy on this night."

Pakistan has been on edge following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27, and a suicide bombing last week in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 20 policemen and three civilians.

Since January 2007, the country has suffered 57 suicide bombings that have killed at least 764 people, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

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