The Army commander of Karachi escaped assassination on Thursday when gunmen attacked his convoy with gunfire and a bomb, killing several people and wounding his driver.A military spokesman denied that the city’s Army Corps Commander, Lieutenant-General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, had been the target of the attack and said he was safe.But a security official and a senior military officer said the attack had been on Hayat’s motorcade and his driver was wounded. ‘‘The blast occurred when the Corps Commander’s jeep was approaching,’’ he said. ‘‘It was a well-planned ambush. The Commander is safe, but his driver has been wounded.’’He said at least 10 people were killed. The military officer said the attack occurred on a road used daily by the Corps Commander. But military spokesman Col. Idrees Malik said: ‘‘The attack was not on the Corps Commander’s motorcade; he had reached his office by the time of the attack.’’Witnesses said the firing was followed by a blast that shattered windows in shops and apartments. — (Reuters)
