Multiple blasts rock ISI headquarter in Sukkur, seven killed

SUKKUR: At least seven people were killed and forty injured in five consecutive explosions that targeted the office of Inter-Services Intelligence in Barrage Colony, Sukkur on Wednesday evening.

Seven people were killed and 38 injured in the brazen attack on the local headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said DG Rangers Major-General Rizwan Akhtar.

The dead included five attackers, in what was an unprecedented attack in the otherwise peaceful town.

“A total of seven people were killed and several injured,” said Major General Rizwan Akhtar, head of the paramilitary force, Sindh Rangers.

Police said the attackers detonated two bombs — one outside a police building and a car bomb outside the ISI office in the town, located around 500 kilometres from Karachi, the main city of Sindh province.

A police official said apparently a suicide bomber first blew himself up in front of a police building and then a second suicide bomber detonated the explosive-filled car outside the ISI office.

The terrorists had seized control of one government building, sparking a shoot-out between the militants and security forces in the high-security Barrage Colony area.

Akhtar confirmed that all attackers had been killed and the ISI compound had been cleared of the militants.

“All three militants who seized the compound have also been killed and the building completely cleared of terrorists,” said Akhtar.

He said the front wall and gate of the ISI office had been blown away by the impact of the first blast.

A senior police official said it appeared to be “an organised terrorist attack”.

Militants have launched such sophisticated attacks before, but Sukkur has been traditionally immune from such violence.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the attack, which he said resulted in the “loss of precious human lives and injured many”.