KFC car bombing kills two in Karachi

KARACHI - A car bomb killed at least two people in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in a attack most probably aimed at a KFC restaurant, police and ambulance crew said.

A police spokesman said two people died and up to 15 others were injured, some seriously.

An ambulance crew member for the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's largest charity, said six people had been taken to hospital.

The car bomb gutted the restaurant and shattered the windows of a nearby six-storey office block housing several oil and gas exploration firms. Tenants include Pakistan Petroleum, officials said.

"This is an act of terrorism and apparently the KFC was the target," said Manzoor Mughal, chief of investigation for Karachi police.

"Our initial findings were that an explosive was placed inside a car."

Police said the bomb caused casualties in and outside the office block. It was not clear if KFC was open at the time of the blast.

Some banks on the ground floor of the office building also felt the force of the blast, which blew other cars on the road to pieces.

The bomb was not the first attack on fast-food restaurants in the city. Another KFC restaurant and a McDonald's outlet came under attack in September in Karachi. Two bombs exploded within minutes of each other, injuring at least two people.

- REUTERS