Suspect killed in explosion at clandestine bomb factory

KARACHI, Pakistan -- A clandestine bomb factory used by Islamic militants exploded Thursday in Karachi, killing at least five suspected terrorists -- including one linked to the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl and the deadly bombing of a U.S. Consulate.

The explosion reduced the chemical storage warehouse in the eastern Korangi neighborhood to rubble, and police sifting through the wreckage found high-grade explosives and a rocket-propelled grenade.

"There is a possibility that the people inside the building were trying to make an explosive device and it went off," said Karachi Police Chief Asad Ashraf Malik.

The blast ended a months-long manhunt for Asif Ramzi, a suspect in both the Pearl killing and the consulate bombing in Karachi that killed 14 people in June. Pakistani police had offered a $50,000 reward for his capture.

His body was found in the warehouse ruins, Deputy Inspector of Police Fiaz Leghari told reporters. Police who discovered the bodies also found a fake identity card of a person named Mohammed Babar. They matched the photograph on the card with Ramzi's picture in the files of wanted terrorists.

Others not identified

The four other bodies had not yet been identified.

The single-story building was used both as a residence and as a storage area rented out to a pharmaceutical company, police said.

Inside, police found 11 pounds of explosives and a grenade of the type used in a failed terror attack last year at the Karachi international airport. They also found 60 sacks of an unidentified white powder that has been submitted for analysis.

Ramzi, believed to be a member of the violent Lashkar-e-Janghvi Islamic group, was wanted for questioning in connection with several incidents, the deputy inspector said.

"We believed that he was responsible for many explosions in Karachi," a city of 14 million people, Leghari said.

He said the accident had wiped out a major terrorist -- and perhaps much of his gang.

"Whenever we made any arrest, the suspect mentioned the name of Asif Ramzi," Leghari said. "This man is very important, and we are now trying to identify the other four bodies."

Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl was kidnapped in January and his body discovered two months later.

A videotape showing his grisly execution was given to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi -- the same building that was later bombed.

Several men have been arrested in connection with Pearl's killing and one man, British-born, Omar Saeed Sheikh, has been sentenced to death. But police are working against what appears to be a far-flung terror network in Pakistan.

On Sunday, Karachi police arrested several men in connection with a plot to blow up U.S. diplomats. They found 250 bags of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer used to make explosives.