terrorism in Pakistan, as Protestant Church is attacked with grenades...

[The Wanderer]

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.

[CannibalisticArtist]

hasn't there been war between muslims, hindus, and christians in that area for ages? this is nothing new. these people will never stop.

[The Wanderer]

oh, sorry, didn't mean to make something of it

[ladywithspinninghead]

Not just TWO AMERICANS dead as you put in bold Wanderer, but other nationalities, too you know.....

[BabyGrace]

[BabyGrace]

i thought that was the title in Wanderer's defense

[ladywithspinninghead]

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).]

[The Wanderer]

yeah, that was the title of the article

[brettig]

I very nearly posted an article on this...

[CannibalisticArtist]

Originally posted by The Wanderer:
oh, sorry, didn't mean to make something of it

Palestinian terror attacks mar Mideast mission

Bloodshed continues amid diplomatic efforts

In one incident Sunday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire in Kfar Saba, a town north of Tel Aviv, Israeli police said. An Israeli teenage girl was killed and nine people were wounded, hospital sources said.

Police shot and killed the gunman shortly after the terror attack.

In East Jerusalem, a Palestinian bomber blew himself up next to a bus at a busy intersection, Israeli police said.

No one was injured, but ambulance services said some people, apparently suffering from shock, were taken to hospitals from the scene of the blast in the French Hill neighborhood, which Israel annexed in 1967 after the Six Day War.

Islamic Jihad -- a militant group dedicated to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel -- claimed responsibility for the terror attack in East Jerusalem.

In the Palestinian-controlled city of Bethlehem, where an Israeli tank and soldiers were positioned, a Palestinian militant was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli soldiers, Palestinian security forces said.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/...ing/index.html

religion-motivated violence occurs everyday. is this story less special than the one you posted? as a matter of fact this is probably more important, since it deals with the recent talks of peace negotiations, and does not include cheap sensationalism.



[This message has been edited by CannibalisticArtist (edited 03-17-2002).]

[Lemon Baby]

In any case, it's still very sad, no matter what nationalities died.

[The Wanderer]

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).]

[CannibalisticArtist]

no offence taken m8. i just replied to your post and you got a little cheeky with me so i had to reply you know how it is .
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).]