Karachi: Unidentified gunmen on Thursday attacked a car of the Japanese consulate, leaving two persons injured, including a security guard, in what officials described as a dacoity attempt.
The assailants came on two motorbikes and opened fire on the car, injuring an administrative officer of the consulate and a security guard. But surprisingly none of them targeted the driver.
City police chief Fayyaz Leghari said that the attack appeared to be a random dacoity attempt the administrative officer of the consulate had withdrawn cash from a bank just before the attack took place in the heavily guarded Cantt station area.
"A security guard seated with the driver and the administrative officer in the back seat were wounded in the attack as the assailants fired four shots at the car," Leghari said.
He said the injured men were rushed to the state-owned Jinnah hospital where they were stated to be out of danger.
Leghari said no foreign national was in the car when it was attacked.
Television channels reported that the assailants had decamped with 27,000 rupees in cash and an estimated USD 2000.
"Usually in a robbery attempt the robbers always target the driver first, but in this case they fired at the security guard and at the administrative officer," another police official said.
A spokesman of the Japanese consulate said that it appeared to be a robbery attempt but investigations were continuing.
Diplomats in Karachi -- a city of 16 million people that has been rocked by violence in recent months – have usually been spared of any violence, but today`s attack can be worrying for law enforcement agencies.
PTI
