KARACHI: Shafiq Tanoli, a police officer known for his anti-terrorism campaign, and three others were killed in a suicide bomb blast in the old Subzi Mandi area on Thursday morning, officials and witnesses said.

Sub-Inspector Shafiq Tanoli, who had survived seven attempts on his life in the recent past, was sitting at a tailoring shop with three other men when a young man with long hair and beard approached him at around 8:40am and after a brief conversation blew himself up, said Gulshan-i-Iqbal SP Tanveer Hussain.

The wounded were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced four of them, including SI Tanoli, dead on arrival, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department of the hospital.

The other dead were identified as Mohammad Daud, uncle of the killed SI, his friend Jalal Ahmed and tailor Aijaz Hyder.

The police also brought pieces of human body, including a head and two legs, which were stated to be those of the suicide bomber, said Dr Jamali.

Two police guards of the officer and a passerby were also wounded in the explosion.

A visit to the blast site showed that the shop was badly damaged in the explosion.

Victim Jalal’s brother-in-law Amir Hasan told that Jalal was reciting the Quran when his childhood friend Shafiq Tanoli phoned him saying that he had ordered tea for him. They almost daily met there as Jalal, father of a minor girl, used to do some paperwork for Shafiq.

“I was standing at a confectionery shop adjacent to the tailor’s shop when a huge blast occurred. I was stunned and regained consciousness in hospital,” said wounded Abdul Qadir in the hospital.

A private school is also located on the first floor of the four-storey building where around 300 children study, but on Thursday there were fewer children as their examination had recently taken place, said head of the school Ghulam Mustafa Siyal, also a tenant of SI Tanoli.

The incident occurred around 300 metres from the officer’s home.

The building owned by the slain officer was named after his brother Naveed Tanoli, who was shot dead in Gulshan-i-Iqbal in 2011 the same day when the officer had arrested the alleged killer of GeoNews reporter Wali Khan Babar, said a police officer on the spot.

The police officer was also reportedly active against gangsters in Lyari.

However, Raja Umer Khatab, head of the counter-terrorism unit of the CID, told that suspected militants might be behind the suicide attack on the police officer.

He recalled that the officer had survived a bomb attack in which two persons were killed in the same locality in December last year. That attack had taken place a few days after three suspected militants were killed in an alleged encounter by Shafiq Tanoli when he was the SHO of the Mauripur police station.

The CID official said the alleged bomber carried around four kilograms of explosive material with ball bearings.

Mr Tanoli was also a controversial police officer as around four FIRs were lodged against him and he was recently suspended and reverted by the inspector general of police, said a police officer.

Shafiq’s brother Rasheed Tanoli told the media that security was withdrawn after the suspension of his brother.

A police spokesperson, however, denied the allegation.

“All necessary security measures, including an APC and a police van with 15 police guards, were provided to him keeping in view his role in the police operation and threats against him,” said a police statement.

However, New Town DSP Nasir Lodhi told that at the time of the blast only two police guards were present outside the shop.

Meanwhile, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) indirectly claimed responsibility for the attack on Shafiq Tanoli.

TTP Mohmand agency chapter spokesman Umer Khurasani in a statement released to the media said the police officer had killed “several TTP men” in “fake encounters”, therefore, under those circumstances, the violent reaction was a “natural thing”.