Karachi, June 10: A bomb exploded near a Kentucky fried chicken fast-food restaurant in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi overnight, injuring a man who was later arrested on suspicion of carrying the bomb. The blast was the latest in a relentless chain of attacks in Pakistan's largest and most violent city, where five bloody strikes on Christian and western targets last year left 37 people dead, including two suicide bombers.

Karachi's chief police investigator Fayyaz Leghari alleged that Mohammad Riaz was trying to plant the explosive near the American fast-food outlet when it blew up in his hand.
KFC, Pizza Hut and Mc Donald's branches have been the target of boycott calls by anti-US groups.

"The bomb exploded before he could plant it and in the process he lost his left hand and right eye. We have arrested him and have also recovered explosives from his house," Leghari said.

Three low-intensity explosives were also found in a bag he was carrying.
"They could be part of a terrorist plot," Leghari said.

He said Riaz, 35, was trained in a militant camp in Afghanistan during the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime and fought alongside the militia, returning to Pakistan after its defeat by the US-led military coalition.
Bureau Report