Karachi Blasts Leave 49 Dead, 300 Injured

Four explosions struck central Karachi during the evening rush hour today, and doctors said at least 49 people were killed and 300 injured.

The blasts occurred at two bus stands, a restaurant and an old building within 200 yards of one another. Witnesses reported as many as four buildings ablaze, including the restaurant, and said vehicles and vending carts were shattered.

“The situation is very bad,” said Dr. Abdul Karim, head physician at Jinnah Medical Post-Graduate Hospital. “We have declared a state of emergency in the hospitals and we don’t know what the death toll will be.”

He said his hospital had received 38 bodies and 150 injured people. Of the injured, 30 were in critical condition, Karim said.

Caused by Bombs

Dr. Abdul Maqquim of Civil Hospital reported 11 deaths and another 150 people injured at his hospital.

Police said all four explosions apparently were caused by bombs.

Columns of smoke could be seen rising over the city of 7 million people, Pakistan’s largest. Fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the city center with sirens wailing while police cordoned off the blast area.

More than 1,000 people assembled outside the Jinnah hospital, where a public address system appealed for blood donors, and hundreds of people rushed there in search of relatives.

“I was sitting in my flat when I suddenly saw objects flying through the air and heard a deafening explosion,” local resident Qasim Bugti said.