KARACHI, July 20: Panic gripped shoppers on Friday evening at a Clifton shopping mall when a bomb was defused immediately after it had been found in a car parked in a nearby parking area.

An anonymous caller informed the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee that a bomb was planted in the car parked near the Park Towers.

The shopping mall was the venue of a Harry Potter book launch.

SP Clifton Azad Khan told Dawn that the car carrying the bomb had been stolen from the Ferozabad police limits on July 10.

The bomb disposal squad (BDS) defused the bomb as the BDS officials severed the wiring connecting the boxes with the car’s battery.

DIG Investigation Manzoor Mughal said the explosives weighed three to four kilograms.

The brand manager of Liberty Books, Sharmeen Hussain, said that the programme to launch Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, scheduled for around 4am on Saturday, was cancelled due to the unfortunate event.