Gość: ZIONISTA
IP: *.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
25.12.02, 21:22
Wednesday, 25 December, 2002, 20:12 GMT
Pakistan church attack kills three
Security outside churches has been tightened
Unidentified assailants have killed at least three people in a grenade
attack on a church in Pakistan's central Punjab province, police say.
At least seven others were injured in the attack at Daska, near Lahore.
Earlier in the day, police said they found two grenades and ammunition near
a church in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Pakistani Christians have suffered many attacks
The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the attack came as police began
lowering their guard after tightening security across Pakistan to protect
churches during Christmas.
Attacks on Christians in Pakistan in the past year have left about 40 people
dead.
Most have been blamed on Islamic militants with links to al-Qaeda, who are
angry at Pakistan's support for the United States-led war against
international terrorism. Militants see that as a war against Islam.
Masked
"Two masked men threw a hand grenade on the church during the service," a
police official said.
He said the incident took place at 2030 (1530 GMT) in a village church some
20 kilometres (13 miles) from Daska.
Seven people were shot in the head in September
One child was killed instantly, and a woman died on her way to hospital,
doctors said. Four of the injured remained in a critical condition.
No one has said they carried out the attack, but the authorities suspect
militants of one of several banned Islamic groups.
Earlier, Pakistani security officials said they found a shopping bag
containing two grenades and 20 shell casings in bushes about 100 metres from
St Thomas' Protestant Church in Islamabad.
"I don't know what the motive was of the people who left these two hand
grenades and some other ammunition," a senior interior ministry official,
Brigadier Javed Cheema, told the Associated Press news agency.
Christian fears
In the last major attack against Christians in September, two gunmen entered
the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) charity
in Karachi, shooting seven people before escaping.
The deaths sparked a wave of anger in the community and were linked to
previous attacks on the Christian minority, which have been blamed on
Islamic militants.
Security at Christian sites around the country is tight
But in October, a man suspected of involvement in the attack was released
because of lack of evidence.
Police say recent investigations suggest that the killings at the IPJ might
have been the result of internal rivalries within the local Christian
community in the city.
The attack caused particular shock because of the way it was carried out.
All the victims had had their hands tied and their mouths covered with tape.
They had then been shot in the head.
