PARCEL BOMB TERROR

Family sent exploding pot plant, ‘get well’ card

THE BOMB was delivered in a ‘get well’ card, with flowers, to the owners of the luxury mansion.

When they opened it, the parcel exploded. Then, there was smoke and blood everywhere.

Now Zakaria, 22, Maseeha, 20, and Sara-bibi, 70, of the Khan family are critically injured in hospital after the parcel bomb exploded in their upmarket Durban suburb of Morningside.

The bomb was one of two reportedly delivered with a pot plant and a ‘get well’ card to the family’s home.

Last night, family spokesperson Nawshaadh Khan confir med that police had discovered a second bomb in a flowering plant and had detonated it.

He described his family as “traumatised”. His aunt, Sarabibi, sustained a broken leg and lacerations, his nephew’s wife, Maseeha, had lacerations and his nephew, Zakaria, lost his thumb and two fingers in the blast.

“Zakaria remains in a very critical condition. It’s been terrible,” he said.

It’s believed the first bomb was in the package in which the plant was delivered. The explosion rocked the neighbourhood, said neighbours, describing how this was followed by loud screams.

A staff member, who did not want to be named, said a vehicle had arrived at the property, delivering flowers in a box.

“The son of the boss brought in the flowers and took them into the lounge,” she said.

“That’s when it happened. There was so much black smoke everywhere. I’m feeling so shocked.”

At the scene, the head of the family, a distraught Saleem Khan, told how he rushed his son, his daughter-in-law and mother to hospital.

He appeared briefly outside the mansion dressed in a blue hospital gown, confirming all three family members were in a critical condition.

“I was on this road driving home when the explosion took place.”

He was then hurried away by family members as a huge crowd of neighbours and onlookers gathered in the street, which had been closed off by police.

A member of staff at the home, Yaseen Alie, told how he rushed into the house when he heard the explosion.

“I heard everybody screaming and when I ran inside, there was smoke everywhere and blood. I helped to carry the family members out to the car.”

Staff said Khan had recently been ill, but had recovered.

The owner of the house, Mohammed Hussein Hassam, said it had been rented to the Khan family at the beginning of the year.

He, too, had rushed to the property when he heard of the bomb.

Police allowed him onto the property, but he returned to the street as the bomb disposal team moved inside.

One neighbour said: “We heard a loud bang and thought it was a gunshot. Then we heard screams, but when we came outside we couldn’t see anything.”

Another neighbour, Bjorn Meehan, and his mother, Vibeke, heard the explosion but ignored it.

“I was climbing up the stairs in our house and I thought it came from a nearby construction site,” he said, adding that they had both experienced the threat of bombs while living in London in the 1980s in the “IRA days”.

“Had the incident been in London today there would have been helicopters, riot police and orders to stay indoors. This is all mild,” he said.

According to reports, two vehicles belonging to the Khan family were torched several months ago.

Yesterday evening, SAPS spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala could not confirm the second bomb, saying: “Berea police and the explosives unit are still busy at the scene.”

The Hawks, who have now taken over the matter, are investigating three cases of attempted murder.