Karachi, Harry Potter avoids a tragedy
A car bomb had been placed in a parking lot outside a shopping mall, crowded since early morning with fans waiting to get their hands on the last book in the series. Spurred on by a guilty conscience the attacker averted police.

Karachi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Harry Potter has stooped the hand of a killer: last night a bomb was defused by police in a parking lot outside the shopping mall in Karachi.  The bomb could have caused untold harm: the mall in fact had been crowded with Harry Potter fans since early morning in search of a copy of the last in the series which was launched yesterday across the world. The 10kg electronically controlled devise was hidden in two containers within a small car parked close to the entrance.

Eaten by remorse, the attacker phoned police to warn them of the imminent ranger: among the victims in fact there would have been numerous children.  “An anonymous phone call – says Karachi police chief Manzoor Mughal,– warned us that a car bomb was parked in front of  Park Towers shopping mall: the attacker understood that the explosion would have been a massacre above all of small children, and so he chose to warn us”. The police defused the bomb and closet down the entire area, delaying the opening of the mall – and the sales of the last book in the Harry Potter series – to this afternoon.

In Israel the launch of the book has also been delayed.  In observance of the Shabbat, bookshops closed down thus putting an end to days of heated debate.  The publishing house distributing the volume has however organised a party in near Tel Aviv: a countdown accompanied the book launch worldwide, which fans were finally able to grab from the shelves.