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#1 |
Kid A
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holy Roman Empire
Posts: 5,271
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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terrorism in Pakistan, as Protestant Church is attacked with grenades...
Two Americans Dead in Grenade Attack on Islamabad Church
__________________by Amir Zia Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –– Two attackers hurled grenades into a Protestant church filled with Sunday worshippers in a diplomatic enclave, killing five people including two Americans and wounding about 45, most of them foreigners. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack as a "ghastly act of terrorism." President Bush also called it a terrorist attack and pledged to work with the Pakistani government to find those responsible and bring them to justice. In a statement, he condemned the "acts of murder that cannot be tolerated by any person of conscience nor justified by any cause." It was the second attack against Christians in Pakistan since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, which prompted Pakistan to abandon support for the Afghan Taliban and instead back the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism. After Sunday's attack, dozens of police and soldiers surrounded the Protestant International Church located in a heavily guarded diplomatic enclave about a half-mile from the U.S. Embassy. Ambulances rushed to the scene and rescuers scrambled to help the injured. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad identified the dead Americans as Barbara Green and her daughter Kristen Wormsley, a senior at the American School in Islamabad. Green and her husband, Milton Green, worked at the embassy – she in administration and he in the computer division. The others killed included one Afghan, one Pakistani and one of unknown nationality, the Pakistani government news agency said. Ten Americans were among the 45 injured, along with 12 Pakistanis, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Ethiopian and one German, police said. The government said the injured also included Afghans, Swiss, Britons, Australians and Canadians. Six or seven were in serious condition, District Judge Tariq Mehmood Khan said. Witnesses said the attackers entered the back of the church during the sermon and began hurling grenades at the congregation of about 70. Three of the grenades exploded and the attackers eluded security guards at the scene, police said. "I saw two men come into the back of the church into the main sanctuary and threw what looked like hand grenades," said Cindy Jess, an American who did not give her hometown. Mark Robinson, of San Clemente, Calif., who was being treated at the clinic for a minor leg injury, said, "There was total pandemonium." Elisabeth Mundhenk, 54, of Hamburg, Germany, said she took refuge under a piano when the first explosion rocked the church but still suffered shrapnel wounds in the leg. "There was blood, blood, blood," she said while awaiting treatment at the hospital. "It was horrific. There was a horrible smell and we could barely breathe." Although no group claimed responsibility, suspicion fell on Islamic militants angered by Musharraf's crackdown on Islamic extremism begun in January. "It's a highly deplorable attempt to spoil our relations with foreign countries. Choosing this place is meant to embarrass the government," Pakistani Law Minister Khalid Ranjha said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the attack a "serious outrage, particularly because it took place within what we thought was the well-protected diplomatic enclave." "This is part of a continuing effort by dissident extremist terrorists to try to destabilize President Musharraf's government and the support which he enjoys from around the world, including the Western nations," Straw the told BBC. Sectarian violence has been increasing in Pakistan, but most attacks have targeted Pakistan's Shiite Muslim minority. Extremists from the majority Sunni Muslim community have been blamed. Despite the increase in sectarian violence, Ranjha said officials believed the church was well-protected. Such attacks in the Pakistani capital, where security is higher than elsewhere in the country, are relatively infrequent. "The attack shows that those who carried it out were committed people," Ranjha said. The last major violent incident directed at Christians occurred Oct. 28 when gunmen entered a church in the Punjab province town of Behawalpur and killed 15 worshippers and a Muslim guard. Religious tension had been expected to rise with the start this weekend of the Islamic month of Moharram, marking the beginning of the Muslim year. In January, Musharraf banned five Islamic extremist groups and announced measures extending control over religious schools considered a breeding ground for terrorism. More than 2,000 people were arrested, but many were released. |
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#2 |
War Child
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: West Coast babyeee
Posts: 511
Local Time: 10:17 AM
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hasn't there been war between muslims, hindus, and christians in that area for ages? this is nothing new. these people will never stop.
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#3 |
Kid A
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holy Roman Empire
Posts: 5,271
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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oh, sorry, didn't mean to make something of it
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#4 |
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Band-aid Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,635
Local Time: 02:17 PM
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Not just TWO AMERICANS dead as you put in bold Wanderer, but other nationalities, too you know..... |
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#5 |
Refugee
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: even NJ loves NY
Posts: 2,095
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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#6 |
Refugee
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: even NJ loves NY
Posts: 2,095
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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i thought that was the title in Wanderer's defense
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#7 |
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Band-aid Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 4,635
Local Time: 02:17 PM
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haha, oops!!
I guess I'll have to go search elsewhere for a reason to lambast him.... ![]() [This message has been edited by ladywithspinninghead (edited 03-17-2002).] |
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#8 |
Kid A
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holy Roman Empire
Posts: 5,271
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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yeah, that was the title of the article
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#9 |
New Yorker
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: heehee, ask george
Posts: 3,194
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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I very nearly posted an article on this...
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#10 | ||
War Child
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: West Coast babyeee
Posts: 511
Local Time: 10:17 AM
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Quote:
Quote:
[This message has been edited by CannibalisticArtist (edited 03-17-2002).] |
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#11 |
Acrobat
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: PopAngel's Mind Landscape
Posts: 334
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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In any case, it's still very sad, no matter what nationalities died.
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#12 |
Kid A
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holy Roman Empire
Posts: 5,271
Local Time: 01:17 PM
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Once again cannibal, I didn't mean too offend you with such cheap sensationalism, I'll try to ignore these things in the future...
[This message has been edited by The Wanderer (edited 03-18-2002).] |
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#13 |
War Child
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: West Coast babyeee
Posts: 511
Local Time: 10:17 AM
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no offence taken m8. i just replied to your post and you got a little cheeky with me so i had to reply
__________________![]() ![]() violence is a vicious circle, someone has to give, or it will never end. [This message has been edited by CannibalisticArtist (edited 03-18-2002).] |
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