KARACHI, April 28: At least four Pakistan Navy personnel and a civilian were killed and eight other people were wounded in a bomb attack on Thursday, the third on a navy bus in the city in three days.

On Tuesday, four people, a lady doctor among them, were killed and 56 were injured in attacks on navy buses in the Defence Housing Authority and Baldia Town.

Investigators suspect that a single group is behind the three attacks.

“Our men carried out this attack and all security forces are our target,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location.

“They will be attacked everywhere in the country. Our organisation is still strong in cities of Pakistan,” he went to add. The Taliban had claimed responsibility also for the Tuesday’s attacks.

Senior police officers said that explosives planted at the edge of a service road close to a water valve were detonated through remote control. The assailants must have been present nearby to detonate the explosives the moment the bus reached there, SP Raja Umar Khattab told Dawn.He said there was similarity in the way the three attacks had been carried out.

The bus coming from PNS Mehran was taking the navy personnel to Dockyard. It was about to join the main Sharae Faisal when the explosion took place.

At least 370 pellets hit the bus, mostly on the right side and a large number of pellets pierced through the vehicle.

Fixtures of a nearby petrol pump were also damaged.

A car going to the petrol pump was hit by 23 pellets. Mohammad Hanif, a banker, who was at the wheel was injured.At least three pellets hit a motorcycle which was behind the bus and the motorcyclist Mohammad Ashraf, an employee of the Pakistan Navy, was injured by a pellet which hit his helmet, SP Niaz Khosa said.

The deceased sailors are: Mohammad Yameen, 35, Mirza Ramzan Baig, 35, Sabir Mohammad, 24, and Imtiaz Ditta.

Civilian Naveed Ahmed, 20, who was a pillion-rider, was killed by a pellet.

“We had just descended from the Karsaz Bridge and came on Sharae Faisal when the blast took place. Then I realised that my nephew had fallen off the motorcycle, I returned to see him lying on the road,” a crying Shahid Ali told newsmen at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The injured navy personnel were taken to PNS Rahat.

“We have examined the footage at the City Government’s Command and Control Centre, but the CCTV cameras couldn’t catch any worthwhile image because these were focused on the main road,” SP Khosa said.

A law-enforcement official said that the navy appeared to be a soft target because it followed quite a visible pick and drop system. It appeared that the terrorists followed the movement of navy buses, he added.

Shamim-ur-Rahman adds: Talking to newsmen after visiting the blast scene, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that assistance of top investigation officials and experts had been sought to look into all aspects of the attacks.

“It was a remote-controlled blast and we are discussing the issue with experts to prevent such incidents in future,” Mr Shah, who also holds the portfolio of home minister, said in response to questions.

“It would be immature to blame any particular group at this stage,” he said.

“It appears to be a move to destabilise democracy,” he said.

Pakistan Navy spokesperson said that “being one of the armed forces, attack on Pakistan Navy has been attempted by ill-minded elements whose nefarious motives aim at deterring the resolve of the nation to fight the menace of terrorism.”