KARACHI: A suspected suicide explosion targeting President Asif Ali Zardari's chief security officer killed at least three people in Karachi on Wednesday, police said.
Eleven others were injured in the powerful explosion which rocked the busy New Town neighbourhood in the heart of Karachi, less than a kilometre from the Quaid's mausoleum.
"Three people, including the president's chief security officer, Bilal Sheikh, were killed in the bombing," said Superintendent Police Usman Bajwa.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said that "Bilal had rendered many sacrifices for the PPP and that he was not just a bodyguard but more like a son."
President Zardari also appealed to party workers to offer fateha for Bilal.
The president added that Bilal had accompanied Benazir Bhutto when she was attacked in Karachi on Oct 18, 2007.
Bilal Sheikh was an active worker of the Pakistan People's Party, the ruling party in Sindh province.
A spokesman for the Bilawal House, President Zardari's private residence in Karachi, had earlier confirmed Sheikh's death. Sheikh's driver was also killed in the explosion.
Bajwa said the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing. "Bilal Sheikh's vehicle was the target of the attack," he said.
