Karachi anti-terror cop escapes Taliban bomb, eight others die

A Taliban suicide car-bomber flattened the house of a senior counter-terrorism police officer in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi on Monday, killing eight people including six police officers.

Reuters/Athar Hussain

But Senior Superintendent Aslam Khan, who said that he had been threatened by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), escaped unhurt from the attack, although his home was destroyed.

The Al-Qaeda-allied group claimed responsibility for the attack and said Khan had been targeted for arresting, torturing and killing Taliban members.

Khan heads the counter-terrorism unit of the Police Crime Investigation Department in Karachi, which is a vital hub for Afghanistan-bound Nato supplies.

Several neighbouring houses were also wrecked in the attack, with four cars being badly damaged and a two-metre deep crater left in front of Khan's home.

As well as six police officers, a mother and a daughter were killed, while several other police were wounded.

"I woke up from sleep and saw fire around,” Khan told reporters outside the remains of his one-storey bungalow. “I ran towards the other rooms of the house and saw my family safe but bewildered.

"This was a cowardly act of Taliban. I am not scared of Taliban. Let me tell you that I will not spare them in future."

"He was on our hit list and he is still on our hit list," TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan told the AFP news agency, adding that several other police and crime investigation department
officials “ will be killed soon".