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Two Americans Among Five Dead In Pakistan Church Attack
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Main hall of the Protestant International Church following the attack |
ISLAMABAD, March 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Five people, including a U.S. diplomat's wife and daughter, were killed and dozens injured in a grenade attack Sunday during a prayer service at a Protestant church in the Pakistani capital.
"Among the dead are two U.S. citizens. They are the wife and daughter of a U.S. diplomat," a police intelligence officer told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
"One Pakistani woman, one Afghan male and an unidentified male" were also killed, the head of the interior ministry's National Crisis Cell, Brigadier Javed Cheema, told AFP.
A U.S. embassy spokesman confirmed that two Americans had been killed.
At least three children were among 46 people injured, when a man entered the Protestant International Church in the city's tightly-guarded diplomatic enclave and hurled up to eight grenades into the congregation at around 10:50 am (0550 GMT), police said.
The Sri Lankan ambassador Srilal Weerasooriya, his wife Dilhani, their child and the wife of a Japanese diplomat were among those injured.
Also wounded were one Afghan, nine Americans, two Australians, five British, one Canadian, one Ethiopian, one German, seven Iranians, one Iraqi, eight Pakistanis and one Swiss. Only five injured patients remained unidentified.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called the attack "an act of sabotage against Pakistan's national interests".
Musharraf "is deeply saddened over this outrageous attack," a government spokesman told AFP. "He has ordered the security agencies to track down those involved."
The injured were rushed to three Islamabad hospitals. Nineteen patients were being treated at the Al-Shafa Hospital, 20 were taken to the Polyclinic Hospital and seven others were receiving treatment at the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences.
Six of the foreigners were in a critical condition, said a doctor at the Polyclinic Hospital.
The area around the small white church, located in a quiet residential quarter between the United States and Chinese embassies, is normally heavily guarded by police and private security guards. Two barricades lie across the road leading to the U.S. embassy.
Americans, Britons and other expatriates were among the 60 to 70 worshippers inside the Protestant International Church, which is regularly attended by the families of foreign diplomats and other expatriates, in the capital's diplomatic enclave.
Witnesses said the Sunday sermon was under way when they heard an explosion at the back of the church. Then they saw at least one man, laden with grenades, coming up the aisle.
Most worshippers dived for cover, as five or six explosions ripped through the church. Police said there were two attackers.
Witnesses said the attackers entered the back of the church during the sermon and began hurling grenades at the congregation.
Three of the grenades exploded and the attackers eluded security guards at the scene, police said.
No group has claimed responsibility of the attack yet.
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