KARACHI: A police mobile unit was the target of a controlled bomb explosion that killed a woman and injured eleven others on MA JInnah Road Monday night in the third terrorist attack in a month.

“It appears that the target was a police mobile unit,” confirmed the chief of police. “As the mobile unit passed, then, it seems that it is a device.”

The police found that the motorcycle which appeared to have a planted device is registered to a man identified as Shaikh Parvez of Gulistan-e-Johar. The 4.5kg commercial dynamite IED device was planted in the frame under the motorcycle seat, bomb disposal has said. It was packed with ball bearings, which cause the most widespread damage to passers-by during an explosion.

The bomb has left three pits in the road, damaging a 20 foot radius in the neighbourhood.

The chief minister said that this was the third attack in a month but they would not let terrorists take the city hostage. The first attack was a suicide bomber at the University of Karachi three weeks ago, killing three people, including teachers.

A 30-year-old woman was killed and the injured were between the ages of eight and 60. She was a resident of Garden Show Market and used to supply dupattas she made at paper bazaar. At the time of the blast, she was in a rickshaw going to deliver her goods. She had four children.

The explosion damaged motorcycles and cars parked in the area, which is part residential, part commercial. The injured were taken to the nearby Civil Hospital, Karachi. Bolton Market is the spot where the explosion took place.

Provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Memon condemned the blast. He said that the rescue teams have reached the spot and the bomb disposal squad has also reached the site of the incident.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident and expressed his sorrow upon the demise of a woman in the blast.

The incident took place four days after an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Saddar area left one person dead and 13 injured.