Avee News

Suicide bomber kills eight in Peshawar

2013-04-29T02:39:00.002-07:00

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber killed at least eight people and wounded 43 others when he rammed his motorcycle into a bus on University Road here on Monday, police said.
The bombing took place at Peshawar's Jehangir Abad neighbourhood on Arbab Road close to a police vehicle and also damaged a passing bus.
"The commissioner, who passed just a minute before from the road, was the target of the bombing, but he escaped unhurt as the bomber missed the target and struck his motorcycle into a passenger bus," police official said.
Body parts of the suicide bomber were also found at the blast site, he added.
Bomb disposal officials said the explosives weighed up to six kilograms (13 pounds).
Rescue teams shifted the bodies and injured to Khyber Teaching Hospital while police cordoned off the area and started investigation.
The University Road was closed for traffic after the incident.

Escaping the heat in Far North Queensland

2013-04-27T00:41:00.001-07:00

Almost every visitor to Far North Queensland has the tropical town of Cairns on their itinerary. As the gateway to the iconic Great Barrier Reefand fringed by jungle-covered mountains, littered with white-sand beaches and home to a surprisingly cosmopolitan nightlife scene, it is little wonder this erstwhile fishing village has become one of Australia’s top tourist destinations. But for those who are willing to look beyond Cairns’ obvious attractions – and have the energy to get out of their deck chair – there is a wealth of delightful alternatives within an hour’s drive of the coast’s sticky climes.

The Atherton Tablelands is a cool, clean and astonishingly green volcanic plateau with vistas more reminiscent of Switzerland than sunburnt Australia; dairy cows munch yellow flowers, tractors trundle down meandering tracks and blue lakes wink at the base of impossibly rounded emerald hills. But do not mistake bucolic for boring: the 32,000sqkm region – which soars to heights of almost 1,300m – packs a dramatic punch in the sightseeing stakes.

The Tablelands are a short and scenic drive inland from Cairns, but for those who believe the journey should be as thrilling as the destination, the Kuranda Scenic Railway – a 37km mountain edge train track constructed in the late 1800s – and Skyrail – a 7.5km-long cableway gliding above the jungle canopy – are delightful alternatives. Both start in Cairns and terminate in Kuranda, a hippy hamlet nestled between a World Heritage-listed rainforest and the Barron Falls, which roars to life in the summer monsoon season. Billed as “the village in the rainforest”, Kuranda offers prime nature experiences both outside and in: more than 80 types of winged wonders flutter about in the Birdworld complex, while the Butterfly Sanctuary is Australia’s largest butterfly aviary. But the town’s most interesting inhabitants can be found at the Original Markets at the northern end of town, a ramshackle, sandalwood-scented jumble of stalls flogging everything from avocado ice cream to organic lingerie until 3 pm every day.

Trade the sarongs for spurs with a 30km drive west to the cowboy town of Mareeba. Home to one of Australia’s most iconic annual rodeos (held this year from 12 to 14 July), the town revels in a “wild west” atmosphere, with local merchants selling leather saddles, handcrafted bush hats and the oversized belt buckle of your bronco-bustin’ dreams. Mareeba’s main street is even wide enough for a high-noon showdown. Once the heart of Australia’s largest tobacco growing region, Mareeba now turns its soil to more wholesome produce, with organic coffee plantations, distilleries, a mango winery and abundant fruit and nut crops. For a sample, visit one of the many farms that offer tasting menus, or try Food Trail Tours for guided gourmandising.

Heading north towards Queensland’s rugged Cape York Peninsula, twitchers should stop off at the Mareeba Wetlands just out of town, a 2,000 hectare sanctuary that harbours more than 200 bird species, as well as the upmarket Jabiru Safari Lodge, a collection of lagoon-side African-style safari cabins ideally placed for wildlife watching and unwinding.

Named after the man – 19th-century pastoralist John Atherton – who gave the region its name, Atherton, located 30km south of Mareeba, is a bustling, central country town that makes an ideal base for exploring the delights of the southern Tablelands. Old-school accommodation at any of Atherton’s four traditional pubs ensures an authentic stay, while the lure of Crystal Caves – a gaudily fabulous mineralogical museum that houses the world’s biggest amethyst geode (more than 3m high and weighing 2.5 tonnes) – and the fastidiously restored late 19th-century Hou Wang Temple – one of the oldest original Chinese temples in Australia – tempt day tippers to linger longer.

It was John Atherton who also, accidentally, named one of the Tablelands’ most beloved outdoor playgrounds, the nearby Lake Tinaroo. Locals swear that in 1875 Atherton stumbled across a deposit of alluvial tin and, in a fit of excitement, shouted “Tin! Hurroo!” The excitement has not died down since, with Tinaroo becoming a favourite for Tablelanders as well as Cairnsites fleeing seasonal jellyfish, the threat of giant crocs and the swelter of the lowlands. People flock to its cool, clean waters for boating, water skiing and lazy shoreline lolling. It is also renowned as one of the best barramundi fishing spots in Australia. The sprawling lake, estimated at being two thirds the area of Sydney Harbour, is framed by the Danbulla Forest, a green blanket of rainforest, pine and scrub that offers refuge to kangaroos, bird colonies and platypus.

Aldi own-label gin beats more expensive rivals in blind taste test

2013-04-27T00:35:00.002-07:00

Aldi's Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin impressed ISC judges. Photograph: Getty Images/Purestock

An own-label supermarket gin costing less than £10 has won a top award and seen off competition from well-known brands and niche rivals costing more than five times its price.

Aldi's Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin, which costs £9.65 for a 70cl bottle, impressed judges in blind taste tests at the prestigious International Spirits Challenge 2013. It picked up a silver medal alongside more expensive rivals including The London No 1 Gin, which sells for £35 at Harrods, and the Worship Street Whistling Shop Cream Gin, which costs £55.95.

The so-called Bathtub Gin from the Professor Cornelius Ampleforth range of spirits and liqueurs was awarded a gold medal in the premium and super premium categories. Costing £32.95 for a 70cl bottle, it is made in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Famous mainstream brands such as Bombay Sapphire (£21.70) and artisan favourite Hendricks (£26.39) fell short in the eyes of the experts. Both were awarded bronze medals despite being more than twice as expensive as their value Aldi rival.

Described as having a "ripe, citrus aroma with rounded spice and a touch of juniper", Aldi's Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin is distilled "for a clear, crisp, complex flavour".

Several other products in Aldi's spirits range were also highly decorated, with two of its vodkas picking up silver awards and its amaretto, white rum and peach schnapps taking bronze awards in the liqueurs category.

Tony Baines, managing director of buying at Aldi, said: "Our expert buyer works closely with some of the world's leading distilleries to enable us to deliver high-quality own-label spirits to our customers, so it is fantastic that our commitment to quality has been recognised by as prestigious a group as the ISC tasting panel.

"It's safe to say we're all in high spirits today – and we hope our customers will enjoy raising a glass of gin and tonic to our success."

Supermarkets have reported a steady rise in gin sales amid new interest from consumers in mixing their own cocktails after a flurry of new product launches. Waitrose's Heston from Waitrose gin – made with British potatoes and infused with the chef's signature Earl Grey tea and lemon – hit the shelves last autumn and retails at £22 for a 70cl bottle.

The Waitrose spirits buyer Hercehelle Perez Terrado said: "Gin is the trendiest tipple around, with sales up 13% year on year at Waitrose. Underground gin bars are popping up all over London and pubs are starting to sell lesser known craft brands. The scope for creativity in the blend of botanicals is what makes gin so special."

Earth's core far hotter than thought

2013-04-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

New measurements suggest the Earth's inner core is far hotter than prior experiments suggested, putting it at 6,000C - as hot as the Sun's surface.

The solid iron core is actually crystalline, surrounded by liquid.

But the temperature at which that crystal can form had been a subject of long-running debate.

Experiments outlined in Science used X-rays to probe tiny samples of iron at extraordinary pressures to examine how the iron crystals form and melt.

Seismic waves captured after earthquakes around the globe can give a great deal of information as to the thickness and density of layers in the Earth, but they give no indication of temperature.

That has to be worked out either in computer models that simulate the Earth's insides, or in the laboratory.

X-ray vision

Measurements in the early 1990s of iron's "melting curves" - from which the core's temperature can be deduced - suggested a core temperature of about 5,000C.

"It was just the beginning of these kinds of measurements so they made a first estimate... to constrain the temperature inside the Earth," said Agnes Dewaele of the French research agency CEA and a co-author of the new research.

Iron samples were subjected to enormous pressures before being probed with a spray of intense X-rays

"Other people made other measurements and calculations with computers and nothing was in agreement. It was not good for our field that we didn't agree with each other," she told BBC News.

The core temperature is crucial to a number of disciplines that study regions of our planet's interior that will never be accessed directly - guiding our understanding of everything from earthquakes to the Earth's magnetic field.

"We have to give answers to geophysicists, seismologists, geodynamicists - they need some data to feed their computer models," Dr Dewaele said.

The team has now revisited those 20-year-old measurements, making use of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - one of the world's most intense sources of X-rays.

To replicate the enormous pressures at the core boundary - more than a million times the pressure at sea level - they used a device called a diamond anvil cell - essentially a tiny sample held between the points of two precision-machined synthetic diamonds.

Once the team's iron samples were subjected to the high pressures and high temperatures using a laser, the scientists used X-ray beams to carry out "diffraction" - bouncing X-rays off the nuclei of the iron atoms and watching how the pattern changed as the iron changed from solid to liquid.

Those diffraction patterns give more insight into partially molten states of iron, which the team believes were what the researchers were measuring in the first experiments.

They suggest a core temperature of about 6,000C, give or take 500C - roughly that of the Sun's surface.

But importantly, Dr Dewaele said, "now everything agrees".

Three British Muslims jailed for Al-Qaeda bomb plot

2013-04-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

LONDON: Three British Muslims were jailed on Friday for planning what a court heard was an Al-Qaeda-backed plot to carry out a string of bombings that they hoped would rival 9/11 and the 2005 London attacks.
Ringleader Irfan Naseer received a life sentence, his right-hand man Irfan Khalid was jailed for 18 years and co-conspirator Ashik Ali was jailed for 15 years by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
Naseer, 31, and Khalid and Ali, both 28, were convicted in February of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, through an extremist plot to set off eight rucksack bombs in crowded areas and possibly other timed devices.
"Your plot had the blessing of Al-Qaeda and you intended to further the aims of Al-Qaeda," Judge Richard Henriques said as he sentenced the three men.
The group, all from Birmingham in central England, were heavily influenced by the teachings of American-born Al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011, police said. (AFP)

AFP

Pakistani asylum seeker could play the Ashes

2013-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

SYDNEY: Pakistani asylum-seeker Fawad Ahmed has signed to play with Australian state side Victoria for the next three seasons, Cricket Victoria said on Friday.
Leg-spinner Ahmed, who could be in contention to play for Australia in the Ashes series in England in July if he is granted citizenship on time, was named in Victoria's squad for the next Australian season. "Fawad Ahmed was the success story from last year and we're extremely happy to have signed him for the next three seasons," Victoria coach Greg Shipperd said in a statement.
The 31-year-old leg-spinner was handed a permanent visa to remain in Australia in November after leaving his home in the border region near Afghanistan, where he said he was targeted by Muslim extremists.
But to play for Australia in the Ashes from July he needs fast-tracked citizenship and an Australian passport.
Otherwise, under International Cricket Council rules, he will not become available until August 18, before the fifth Test at the Oval.
Ahmed played three Sheffield Shield games for Victoria late last season and took 16 wickets at 28.37, bringing him to the notice of Australian selectors given a dearth of spin bowlers of Test quality. "Fawad Ahmed is a mature and very good leg-spinner," chairman of selectors John Inverarity said last month. "I've seen quite a bit of him and all those who have played against him, and the coaching staff, rate him as a good bowler. "He would certainly come under consideration. It will all be considered on merit. He will be treated no differently from anybody else."
Of his chances of playing for Australia, Ahmed told reporters last month "Playing Test cricket is the dream for any single cricketer, very, very exciting. "Like a dream, especially playing for Australia in an Ashes against England. That would be a dream for me and would be amazing. I just only can imagine."
Cricket Victoria also announced Friday that former Australian all-rounder Dan Christian would be playing for Victoria from next season. (AFP)

AFP

Pakistan probes attack on Indian prisoner

2013-04-26T09:32:00.001-07:00

LAHORE: Pakistan said Friday that it probes an attack on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, convicted of plotting terror attacks on Pakistani soil.

A foreign office spokesman said that a request of Indian High Commission for Counselor’s visit to the injured prisoner is being considered by the Pakistani authorities.

He said that the Punjab Home Department and Interior Ministry were jointly probing the issue. Indian High Commission has contacted Pakistan foreign office over the issue.

Indian media reports said that five prisoners who attacked the Indian spy have been identified. The reports said Indian authorities have also contacted President Asif Ali Zardari over the incident.

FIA joint investigation team to interrogate Pervez Musharraf

2013-04-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court on Friday gave the FIA physical remand of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. Geo News reported.
The retired General who is already serving a two-week house arrest, set to expire on May 4 for sacking judges when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007, was presented before the ATC on Friday morning where he was served the fresh remand order which he will serve concurrently.
Joint Investigation team to Interrogate
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) says a joint investigation team will interrogate General (retired) Pervez Musharraf regarding why Benazir Bhutto’s post mortem was stopped, whether the retired General threatened Bhutto in 2008 over the phone, and on whose authorization did the Interior Ministry conducted the press conference after Bhutto’s death.
Mark Siegel agrees to testify
The FIA has also contacted American journalist Mark Siegel, an important witness whom the FIA has requested to appear before a trial court to record his testimony. Sources add, that Siegel has agreed to the FIA’s request.
In Court today
Pervez Musharraf appeared before the ATC in Rawalpindi for his remand hearing under tight security. He is accused of conspiracy to murder former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who died in December 2007.
"We requested a three-day remand of retired general Pervez Musharraf and
judge Chaudhry Habib-ur Rehman gave a three-day remand and adjourned the case until Monday," prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told.
The formal application seeking physical remand of Musharraf had been submitted before the ATC on Thursday.
The ATC had also allowed the FIA to include Pervez Musharraf in the investigation of Benazir Bhutto murder case. Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar represented FIA and presented his arguments while Afshan Adil Advocate represented Pervez Musharraf.
After listening to the arguments, the court had allowed FIA to formally arrest Musharraf and include him in the investigation.
Musharraf is accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder Benazir Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007. It is one of the three cases he is fighting in the courts since returning home last month after four years in self-imposed exile.

Mysterious water on Jupiter came from comet smash

2013-04-26T01:58:00.003-07:00

PARIS: Enigmatic traces of water in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter came from a comet that crashed into the giant planet in 1994, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday.
Astronomers have been debating the water for 15 years after telltale molecules were spotted by an infrared telescope.
Some argued the water brewed up from lower levels of the gassy planet, but others said it could not have crossed a "cold barrier" separating the stratosphere from the cloud level below.
ESA's deep-space Herschel telescope has now found that most of the water is concentrated in Jupiter's southern hemisphere.
The molecules are clustered at high altitude around the sites where 21 fragments from Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 whacked into Jupiter in July 1994 in one of the most spectacular recorded events in astronomy.
The collisions left dark scars in Jupiter's roiling atmosphere that persisted for weeks.
"According to our models, as much as 95 percent of the water in the stratosphere is due to the comet impact," said Thibault Cavalie of the Bordeaux Astrophysics Laboratory in southwestern France.
Other potential sources, including water vapour disgorged by one of Jupiter's icy moons or interplanetary particles of icy dust, can be ruled out, he said in a press release issued by ESA.
The study appears in the European journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Comets are believed to be primeval balls of ice and dust left over from the building of the Solar System.
Cometary bombardment is believed by some experts to have provided the infant Earth with its abundance of water, the stuff of life. (AFP)

WW I British soldiers reburied about a century later

2013-04-26T01:57:00.003-07:00

LONDON: Nearly a century after they were killed in action, four British First World War soldiers will Tuesday finally be laid to rest with full military honours.
The soldiers, two of whom have been identified, are to be re-interred in the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) Cemetery at Ecoust-Saint-Mein near the northern town of Arras in a ceremony attended by relatives and Prince Michael of Kent.
Lieutenant John Harold Pritchard and Private Christopher Douglas Elphick were both killed during an attack by German forces near Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line on the morning of May 15, 1917.
Their bodies were discovered with two other sets of remains in 2009 when a local farmer was clearing a field.
Pritchard, 31 at the time of his death, was identified by a silver identity bracelet, and Elphick, 28, by a signet ring bearing his initials.
A former chorister and head boy at St Paul's cathedral school, Pritchard had joined the HAC as a reservist in 1909 and was part of the first wave of British soldiers to be sent into action when war broke out in 1914.
Injured in 1915, he could have opted for a desk job in London but chose to return to France, surviving the horrors of the Somme in 1916 before being slain as he led his men into a battle in which they were almost all killed.
Elphick, an insurance clerk, had joined up in 1915 and arrived in France in November 1916, three months after the birth of his son, Ronald Douglas, who was to serve in the HAC during World War II.
Ronald Douglas's sons, Chris and Martin Elphick, are due to attend Tuesday's ceremony while the Pritchard family are to be represented by his nephew Harold Shell and great nieces Janet Shell and Jennifer Sutton.
Prince Michael, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, will be present in his role as HAC Royal Honorary Colonel.
The two sets of unidentified remains will be interred as "HAC soldiers known unto God."
It is understood DNA samples have been taken to enable positive identification of the unknown soldiers should any relatives come forward in the future. (AFP)

Microsoft to unveil ‘new generation’ Xbox in May

2013-04-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is expected to unveil in May a successor to Xbox 360 videogame consoles that have been evolving into hubs for home entertainment in the digital age.
Microsoft sent out invitations Wednesday to a May 21 event at its main campus in Redmond, Washington at which Xbox team will reveal a "new generation."
Industry tracker NPD Group reported last week that as of the end of March, the Xbox 360 had been the top-selling console in the United States for 20 consecutive months.
More than 70 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide since they were introduced in November 2005.
A new-generation Xbox would take the field against the latest offerings from Sony and Nintendo.
Sony announced a new generation PlayStation 4 system in February and laid out its vision for the "future of gaming" in a world rich with mobile gadgets and play streamed from the Internet cloud.
Sony spoke ambiguously about the device, leaving much to the imagination during a two-hour presentation in New York City.
Industry insiders anticipate learning more from Sony and Microsoft, and perhaps even getting their hands on new consoles, at a premier E3 videogame conference that will take place in Los Angeles in June.
Low-cost or free games on smartphones or tablet computers are increasing the pressure on videogame companies to deliver experiences worth players' time and money.
Features being incorporated into new consoles include games relying on connections to servers in the Internet "cloud" and synching play, movie viewing and social networking with tablets, smartphones and other devices.
A PlaySation App will let iPhones, iPads or Android-powered smartphones or tablets be used as "second screens" augmenting play taking place on televisions connected to PS4 consoles, according to Sony.
Sony said the PS4 would hit the market in time for the year-end holiday season but did not provide details.
The PS4 will succeed PlayStation 3 consoles that began their lifespan in late 2006.
Nintendo released a new-generation Wii U console late last year but said on Wednesday that the Japanese firm "was not able to maintain the initial sales momentum after the beginning of 2013 due to a delay in the development of subsequent software titles."
Nintendo has been banking on the Wii U to boost its fading fortunes after the original Wii, launched in 2006, proved a huge success as it lured legions of casual gamers with motion-sensing controls.
With the Wii U, Nintendo vowed to start a trend in "asymmetrical play" that gives players using GamePad tablets different in-game perspectives and roles than those using traditional wand controllers.

Stolen tapestry returns to Spain after 34 years

2013-04-26T01:54:00.001-07:00

MADRID: A 16th century religious tapestry which police suspect was stolen by one of Europe's most prolific art thieves from a cathedral in Spain in 1979 has returned to the country after an odyssey that took it to five countries.
Culture Minister Jose Ignacio Wert and Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz presented the wool and silk tapestry, depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, Thursday at a Madrid news conference a day after it was handed over to Spanish officials from the US customs service.
The US Homeland Security Investigations unit seized the artefact last November from the unidentified Texas business that had bought it at auction three years ago for $369,000.
The tapestry had been stolen in December 1979 from the Cathedral of Saint Vincent in Roda de Isabena in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain "apparently" by Rene Alphonse Van Den Berghe, also known as Erik the Belgian, a police spokesman said.
Van Den Berghen is suspected of carrying out several heist of artworks from churches across Europe.
The tapestry was one several works of art that were taken during the break-in at the cathedral in Roda de Isabena, a fortified town in the Spanish Pyrenees, the Spanish culture and interior ministries said in a joint statement.
"Since its theft in 1979 the tapestry has made many trips as it was successively bought and sold in the art market and it passed through five countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and finally the United States," it said.
The tapestry was identified in 2010 by a researcher from the Museum of Lleida, Carmen Berlabe, who spotted it on sale in an online catalogue of a gallery that specialises in the sale of old tapestries in the Belgian city of Mechelen, the police spokesman said.
Police then launched their investigation which led to its discovery in Houston.
The tapestry will now undergo a restoration by the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute, a unit of the culture ministry.

(Source: Geo News)

Geo Pakistan Lyari protesters block road near Karachi port

2013-04-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

KARACHI: Residents of Lyari on Thursday staged protest against the alleged Rangers operation, suspending traffic form Shershah and Tower to Karachi port, Geo News reported.
Early commuters faced difficulties in reaching their work places as the road was blocked near ICI Bridge.
Activities at the Karachi port were also badly affected due to the protest.

(Source: Geo News)

Pakistani-American faces terrorism charges after threats to county officials

2013-04-24T22:03:00.003-07:00

VIRGINIA: An American citizen of Pakistan origin has been arrested for allegedly issuing threats to County officials, Geo News reported here on Thursday.

According to reports, Saad Lodhi was taken into custody after being accused of issuing threats to County authorities.

According foreign media reports, Saad Lodhi started making threats after federal lawsuits he filed against Fairfax County were dismissed.

The reports said Lodhi sent threatening emails to several county officials.

(Source: Geo News)

Bombings disrupt election campaign in three provinces

2013-04-24T20:48:00.001-07:00

LAHORE: As election campaign continues in Punjab with full swing, back-to-back bombings in three other provinces of the country have overshadowed the campaign.
The purpose of enemies of Pakistani society and its system had become clear over the past 24 hours as eleven explosions occurred in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, killing at least eleven people and injuring more than 60.
During the last 24 hours, seven bombs exploded in the capital of Balochistan. On Tuesday, String of blasts in Quetta challenged the writ of the government in which four people were killed.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a bomb went off at Sarki Gate in the provincial capital, Peshawar, leaving two people injured.
In Sindh, the death toll have reached to five while 15 were reportedly injured as a result of blast that took place on Tuesday near the election office of Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi.
Prior to the aforesaid attacks, the election office and the electoral candidates of Awami National Party (ANP) were also targeted.
The nation has once again got an opportunity to elect their representatives after five years. The masses are determined to use their democratic right as missing the opportunity would make the terrorist victor who wanted to deprive the nation from using their right to vote.

(Source: Geo News)

Karachi: Grenade hurled at house in Gulshan e Iqbal

2013-04-24T20:31:00.001-07:00

KARACHI: Unidentified assailants hurled a hand grenade at a house located in Gulshan e Iqbal area of the metropolis and fled away; however, no casualty was reported.
According to the police, the unidentified assailants riding motorbike attacked a house near Bait ul Mukarram mosque with the hand grenade.
The police said that the attack was carried out at the house of a carpet shop owner. It further said that his shop was also assaulted with the grenade two weeks ago.
The sources said that the shop owner was demanded to pay extortion money, and over non-payment his shop and house were targeted.