A suicide attack that left three people, including two bombers, dead in Karachi on Friday could have proved much more catastrophic if brave private security guards protecting Japanese nationals and a police patrol had not acted swiftly. However, it appears luck was also on the side of the foreigners. They escaped bomb shrapnels because a minitruck was there.

Police officials investigating the attack said the terrorists, armed with grenades and machine guns, had planned a deadly bomb and gun attack. They detonated a suicide vest in front of a van carrying at least four Japanese nationals, mistaking them for Chinese.

But the attack did not unfold as planned when a second suicide bomber was killed by a policeman who took his headshot.

Security guards travelling with the Japanese also fired shots. The combined response by guards and police forced a third attacker to flee the scene.

However, what really saved the foreigners was a minitruck carrying packets of bread from bakeries to supply to shops early morning.

Images from the aftermaths of the attacks showed bread loaves strewn across the road and blown out rear of a small supply truck.

Investigators on Saturday told Aaj News that the supply truck suddenly came between the suicide bombers and the passenger van carrying foreign nationals, taking the brunt of the bombing.

It acted as a shield for the vehicle that was targeted in the attack. Mini supply trucks are notorious for rushed driving in the early morning hours. But in this instance, the practice saved lives.

The explosion was so powerful that it shattered the windows of the passenger van.

After the first suicide bomber failed to achieve his objective and the second was shot dead by a police party that responded promptly to the attack being already in the close proximity, a third attacker fled the scene, according to the police.

Police sources told Aaj News that the terrorists had brought water and honey bottles with them and were planning to hole up for hours.

Investigators have found at least two cellular phones and three SIMs from the scene and linked them with 18 different locations. Two handlers were in contact with the attackers from the Hab and Qaidabad areas, said the sources.

Police have registered an FIR of the attack naming a separatist group for the attack.