Posted on 03/17/2002 12:24:40 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
President Bush pledged Sunday to find those responsible for grenade attack on a church in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, which killed five people including two Americans.
The wife and daughter of a U.S. diplomat were among more than 70 worshippers trapped in Islamabad's Protestant church when two unidentified men threw grenades inside the building and closed the door behind them.
The church was crowded with Sunday morning worshippers.
"Five worshippers died in the blast while 45 others have been injured," Islamabad police chief Nasir Durrani told reporters outside the church.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad identified the Americans as Barbara Green, an administrative assistant at the embassy, and her daughter Kristen Wormsley, 17, a senior at the American School in Islamabad. Green's husband works in the embassy's computer division.
Two other victims were identified as an Afghan woman and a Pakistani national while the fifth was not identified till Sunday evening, causing some to speculate that he might have been among the attackers.
The local police, however, said they believed both the attackers escaped unhurt.
Sri Lanka's ambassador to Islamabad, his wife and child and the wife of a Japanese diplomat's are among those seriously wounded, police said.
A press note issued by Islamabad's district magistrate, Tariq Mehmood Khan, said, "At least seven of the 45 victims of Sunday's attack are in serious condition."
The injured belong to eight different nationalities, the note said.
By Sunday evening, Pakistani authorities had deployed army troops in an already heavily guarded diplomatic enclave of the Pakistani capital where the worshippers were attacked.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has described the bombing as "an attempt to harm Pakistan's national interest" and directed his security agencies to "come into action and track down the attackers as soon as possible."
'Face Justice'
In a statement issued by the White House Sunday morning, Bush said his administration will "work closely with the government of Pakistan to ensure those responsible for this terrorist attack face justice."
"I strongly condemn them as acts of murder that cannot be tolerated by any person of conscience nor justified by any cause," he said.
Close to the U.S., British, Indian, Canadian, German and several Arab embassies, the area around the church is one of the most heavily guarded in the country. Besides Pakistani policemen and security agencies, each embassy has its own security staff that patrols the area 24 hours a day. The U.S. Embassy also has built several roadblocks in the area and conducts a round-the-clock surveillance.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack but Durrani said the worshippers saw two men hurling four grenades inside the building.
"They closed the door while walking out to prevent the worshippers from escaping," he said. "Two of the four bombs exploded and two have been recovered unexploded."
He said it was not yet clear if it was an attack on Christians or Western diplomats were the targets. There have been several attacks on the country's tiny Christian minority in the past. At least 18 Christians were killed in southern Pakistan four months ago when masked gunmen broke into a church and sprayed the worshippers were bullets.
But Pakistan's Law Minister Khalid Ranjha said he believes the extremist attack was politically -- not religiously -- motivated.
At least 18 people were killed in this area in November 1995, when militants bombed the nearby Egyptian Embassy after Pakistan handed over some of Osama bin Laden's alleged Arab supporters to the Egyptian authorities.
The Protestant International Church is Islamabad's main Protestant church and was used particularly by diplomats from Protestant countries.
"Everybody knew that the church was used by foreigners of all nationalities," said Durrani, explaining why he believed it was a terrorist attack. "It was an obvious target for those wanting to harm foreigners."
Pakistan's religious extremists had recently vowed to target Western installations across the country to show their rejection of President Musharraf's decision to support the U.S.-led war on terrorism. They are particularly upset with Musharraf for providing military bases to the United States for operations against the Taliban and al Qaida extremists in neighboring Afghanistan.
BTW, have you heard that Islam is a religion of peace?
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