Posted on 05/08/2002 7:35:50 AM PDT by blam
'Al-Qaeda may be behind bomb in Pakistan'
May 08 2002 at 01:36PM
Paris - French armed forces chief of staff General Jean-Pierre Kelche said on Wednesday there was a "significant likelihood" the al-Qaeda network carried out the car bombing in Pakistan which left 14 dead, including 11 French nationals.
"It's a little early to say, but there is a significant likelihood" of al-Qaeda involvement in the attack, said Kelche on the sidelines of ceremonies in Paris marking the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War 2.
The French general said the bombers had targeted the West in general and specifically countries participating in the US-led multinational coalition fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.
French forces have been engaged in the effort to crush the al-Qaeda network of terror operatives led by Osama bin Laden.
President Jacques Chirac, meanwhile, reaffirmed "France's determination to do everything possible to fight international terrorism," following the blast in Karachi that claimed the lives of 11 French nationals and three Pakistanis.
The French leader said in a televised statement that he had asked Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf to find those responsible for the bombing and punish them for the "cowardly crime".
Kelche said France would immediately send a medical team to Pakistan to examine the 12 French nationals injured in the blast and determine whether they should be evacuated.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was to travel to Pakistan later in the day. - Sapa-AFP
Reuters reports that the death toll from the a car bomb in Karachi has risen to at least 14, including 11 French nationals, a senior hospital official said.
Nadeem Mustafa Khan, director-general of the Aga Khan hospital in Karachi, told Reuters there were also 22 people wounded in the suicide bomb attack, including 12 Frenchmen.
But he said the 12 foreigners, who were being treated at his hospital, were all out of danger.
"I am reasonably confident they are out of danger," he told Reuters shortly after meeting the French ambassador to Pakistan. "It's not a question of their lives being in danger."
Wednesday, 8 May, 2002, 14:36 GMT 15:36 UK
Musharraf condemns Karachi attack
akistani President Pervez Musharraf has described the suicide attack on a bus in Karachi, in which 15 people were killed, as an act of international terrorism.
The president termed this a conspiracy against the country and the nation [and a conspiracy to] create a wedge between Pakistan and France
General Musharraf said it would be answered with the full force of the government and appealed for international understanding of Pakistan's efforts against terrorism.
Twelve French nationals and three Pakistanis were killed in the blast.
The French army's chief of staff, General Jean-Pierre Kelche, said the attack was very likely carried out by the al-Qaeda network.
"It's a little early to say, but there is a significant likelihood" of al-Qaeda involvement in the attack, General Kelche said.
French concern
Most of those on board the bus were French workers employed by a company constructing submarines for the Pakistani navy.
The company, Direction des Constructions Navales, said it was recalling its expatriate workers from Pakistan after the attack.
General Musharraf said he considered the bombing "an attack on Pakistan as well as France".
"We feel that this act of international terrorism has to be met with full force," he said in a television interview.
An official statement released after General Musharraf met his security advisers said: "The president termed this a conspiracy against the country and the nation [and a conspiracy to] create a wedge between Pakistan and France."
The French President, Jacques Chirac, described the bombing as a cowardly and odious act.
He said he was sending his new Defence Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, to Karachi to urge increased protection for French nationals.
I was just standing on the street and the noise was so loud it was frightening
Police said the bus - which belonged to the Pakistani navy - exploded after being hit by a car driven by the attacker outside the Sheraton Hotel in the centre of Karachi.
The bus, which was on its way to the city's dockyard, was ripped apart by the violent explosion and the windows of the nearby Pearl Continental hotel were shattered.
More than 20 people, including 12 French nationals, were injured when the powerful bomb shattered the bus, creating a large crater, witnesses said.
"The sound was so loud I think you could have heard it from 10 kilometres (six miles) away," a police officer at the scene, Munir Sheikh, said.
"I was just standing on the street and the noise was so loud it was frightening."
In a statement, President Chirac said he "unreservedly condemns this despicable act, which nothing can justify".
Pakistani police said they would investigate possible links between the bombers and the al-Qaeda network as well as Pakistan's regional rival, India.
"We cannot rule out the involvement of al-Qaeda, but our suspicions are across the border. I am pointing towards India," the Reuters news agency quoted Sindh province police chief, Kamal Shah, as saying.
But India rejected the allegation, and condemned the attack. "We treat [the allegation] with the disdain it fully deserves. It is totally and completely baseless," Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told journalists.
The New Zealand national cricket team, who were staying at the Pearl Continental hotel across the street, were due to begin a five-day test match in Karachi on Wednesday.
New Zealand's cricket team is heading home
But the team's manager, Jeff Crowe, said they would call off their Pakistan tour and head back home.
Members of the Pakistan national side, which was staying at the same hotel, said they narrowly escaped getting hurt
. "I am lucky that I was not in my room and was having breakfast... my room is totally destroyed," cricket star Shahid Afridi said.
Karachi has been the scene of many sectarian killings recently, and this was the third attack in less than four months directed against foreigners.
The American journalist Daniel Pearl disappeared in Karachi in January while researching a story on Islamic militants and a video of his killing was later handed to the United States consulate.
In March, two Americans were among five killed when attackers threw grenades at a church in the diplomatic enclave of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
President Musharraf has been tackling extremist religious groups and banned five of them in January.
Here you go, the French surrender!
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