The Pakistani president’s top security guard has died in a suspected suicide bombing in karachi on wednesday killing three people and injuring several others.
Police say that Bilal Sheikh, Chief Security Officer of President Asif Ali Zardari, is also among the dead.
Eleven others were injured in the explosion which took place in the heart of the city, located less than a kilometre from the Qauid’s mausoleum.
“Three people, including the president’s chief security officer Bilal Sheikh, were killed in the bombing,” said Superintendent Police Usman Bajwa.
Bilal Sheikh was the chief security officer of the president and well as an active worker of the Pakistan People’s Party, the ruling party in Sindh province.
Officials said the wounded included six police officers and an FIA personnel. The injured were shifted to a local hospital where a state of emergency was imposed.
Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials have reached the incident site and investigating the genre and further details of the attack whether it is suicide or planted.
Heavy contingents of security forces including Police and Rangers have been deployed who cordoned off the whole area.
In a statement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif denounced the blast, which killed the chief security officer of President Zardari and his guards.
Both the President and the Prime Minister have directed the authorities concerned to provide best medical treatment to those injured in the blast.
The rate of sectarian and gang-related violence has gradually risen over the past month after a period of relative calm during the country’s first successful transfer of civilian power. Two weeks ago, an attack targeting a High Court judge left eight members of his security team dead.
