'Bomb was set to destroy US consulate'

Explosive experts today defused a bomb in a small van parked next to the heavily guarded US Consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, sparing the building from “big destruction”, police said.

It was not immediately clear who planted the device, though Islamic extremist groups have repeatedly targeted Westerners and minority Christians since the government threw its support behind the US-led war on terrorism.

The thwarted attack came just two days ahead of a scheduled visit to Pakistan by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is due to arrive there on Wednesday, but was not scheduled to visit Karachi.

“The man or men who left this van near the US Consulate building wanted to blow it up,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Officials said a paramilitary ranger guarding the consulate had spotted a Suzuki van with one or two people inside parked about five yards from its perimeter wall. Before they could be questioned properly, the men were picked up in a car and fled.

The van, which contained a large blue water tank filled with explosives, was moved to a safe place and police bomb experts disconnected a timer and detonators attached to the tank.

Karachi police official Mohammed Irfan said the tank contained about 200 gallons of a liquid explosive material. Police were investigating the type of the explosive and when it was timed to detonate.

“We saved this place from big destruction,” Irfan said. “It’s an initial stage. We are investigating who may have done this.”

Hundreds of policemen and paramilitary troops cordoned off the consulate, on a main road in a smart neighbourhood of Karachi, and checked the area for additional explosives. The building is surrounded by high walls and lies about 40 feet back from the road.

Andrew Steinfeld, the counsellor for public affairs at the US Embassy in Islamabad, said the bomb was discovered between 7am and 8am before most consulate staff – who live elsewhere in the city – had arrived for work.

“There was a bomb found in a truck in the early morning. Police removed it and Pakistani authorities are investigating,” he said. He could give no details about the size of the bomb.

After the bomb was found, the consulate was closed for the day

In June 2002, a suicide bomber blew up a truck in front of the US Consulate, killing 14 Pakistanis.

The attack came a month after another suicide attack outside a hotel that killed 11 French engineers.

Islamic militants were blamed for the two attacks.

Extremists have been angered by Pakistan’s support of the US-led war on terrorism, including the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.