Posted on 08/06/2002 7:27:03 AM PDT by white trash redneck
Gunmen who attacked a boarding school for the children of Christian missionaries and diplomats in Pakistan left a note saying the assault was in retaliation for injustices they said were experienced by Muslims in various conflict zones.
Six adults, all Pakistani nationals, were killed in Monday's shooting at the Murree Christian School 50 kilometers north of Islamabad, and at least four others were hurt.
The dead included two hired security guards, a cook, a receptionist, a carpenter and a man described as a bystander.
Thirty Americans were among the 150 pupils between the ages of six and 18 who were attending classes at the time of the attack. Others hail from 20 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Korea, the Philippines and European nations.
No children were hurt during the 15-minute incident before the four gunmen fled over a fence behind the school in the Himalayan foothills, according to its Australian principal, Russell Morton.
The attackers, armed with automatic rifles, left a note which reportedly expressed anger about the deaths of Muslims in the Middle East and Kashmir.
An Australian staffer, Barry Lock, told Australian radio that the gunmen had tried to force their way into a hospital building where kindergarten children were holding class, even firing through windows.
"We're a Christian school and we believe that the God that we serve cared for us in quite a remarkable way, although it was at the cost of six Pakistani friends and staff," he said.
Heavily-armed soldiers guarded the school Tuesday as staff and director were to meet to discuss the school's immediate future.
Morton said he thought the attackers intended to cause trouble for the Pakistani government.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf has become an important ally of the U.S. in the campaign against terror, upsetting militant Islamic groups in Pakistan as a result.
Since the campaign was launched after Sept. 11, terrorists have struck a number of foreign and Christian targets in Pakistan, killing American, French, Pakistani and Afghan nationals in a series of bomb and shooting attacks.
Monday's was the third attack on an obvious Christian institution, and it prompted the Pakistan Christian Congress to criticize the government for not taking Christians' security seriously.
"The killing is an open indication of presence of the militant groups in Pakistan and a challenge to the government," said the body's president, Nazir Bhatti, in a statement.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the U.S. condemned "this outrageous act of terrorism."
Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken to Musharraf by phone, extending his condolences, Reeker said.
Meanwhile security concerns shut down the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, on Monday.
Reeker said the mission would remain closed until an agreement could be reached with local government authorities over security issues related to the reopening of a road closed after 12 Pakistanis were killed in a car bomb attack outside the consulate on June 14.
What deluded animals.
With apoligies to Dr. MLK - "I have a dream... a dream of an America where one day small children will go up to their parents and ask the question, 'Daddy, what were Muslims?'"
Genuinely decent Muslims had better get their wheels on the track. If they can't curb their crazy co-religionists, at least they should speak out unequivocally against this sort of thing. The grace period we've extended them is getting mighty thin. A day is approaching when no Christian or Jew will be willing to believe that a "decent Muslim" exists outside the imagination.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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