Eight wounded in Pakistan KFC, McDonald's blasts
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-09 17:10

Twin bomb blasts wounded eight people at crowded KFC and McDonald's fast food restaurants in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, a senior provincial official said.

Rauf Siddiqui, interior minister of southern Sindh province, said the explosions were linked to a nationwide strike called by opposition parties on Friday, but the opposition denied any involvement.

"We have very strong suspicions that the blasts were in connection with the opposition strike call," Siddiqui told AFP, adding that no one had been arrested yet in connection with the attacks.

"Eight people were injured, mainly by flying glass," Siddiqui said.

The first explosion happened in the KFC in Karachi's upscale Defence district at around 12:40 am (1940 GMT), injuring a number of people including a baby girl and her family, police and witnesses said.

The device planted on the restaurant's mezzanine level shattered its plate glass windows and blew a hole in a concrete wall.

"I was having a meal by myself when I heard a big explosion and all the windows were blown in," witness Mohammed Nehan told AFP. "The family near me were all rushed to hospital afterwards."

The second blast happened behind the kitchen at a crowded McDonald's kiosk around two kilometres (more than one mile) on the Karachi seafront. There were no injuries.

The explosions came hours before the strike, called by Islamic and secular opposition groups in response to recent talks between Pakistan and Israel and a crackdown on religious schools by President Pervez Musharraf.

"They were just crackers, not bombs, and apparently it was an attempt to terrorise and harass people, compelling them to stay at home today to make the strike a success," Siddiqui said.

"We have, however, started our investigations and we are looking into other apspects of the blasts," he said. "We just want to catch the real culprit instead of carrying out random arrests."

The opposition denied any involvement, saying the bombs were planted by government agents.

"The blasts were carried out by those who are accusing us... it is a peaceful strike," Mairaj-ul-Huda, city chief of the Jamaat Islaami party, told AFP.

The strike itself appeared to have fallen flat. There were restrictions on some public transport but most businesses in the capital Islamabad and the major cities of Karachi and Lahore were open.

Western fast food chains have previously been targeted by Islamic hardliners in Pakistan, while Karachi has long been plagued by sectarian and religious violence.

On May 30, a Shiite Muslim mob torched another KFC in Karachi in revenge for a suicide attack on a nearby Shiite mosque, allegedly carried out by a Sunni extremist group.

Four KFC employees perished in the flames while two froze to death after hiding in a cold storage room.

Separately, Karachi police said they arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked militant Thursday in connection with a May 2002 suicide attack outside the Sheraton hotel, which killed 11 French engineers and three Pakistani bystanders.

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