Kindgo
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Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Six Dead in Attack on Pakistan Missionary School
August 05, 2002 09:59 AM ET
By David Brunnstrom
JHIKA GALI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Six Pakistanis were killed and at least three people wounded Monday when masked gunmen burst into the compound of a school for children of foreign missionaries near the town of Murree.
Two security guards, a cook, a carpenter and a receptionist were among those shot dead in the morning attack at Murree Christian School, the Australian director Russell Morton, told Reuters.
None of the 146 children of foreign missionaries from countries including the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany, was hurt, but a Filipino women, who was visiting her son, was shot in the hand.
All 30-35 foreign staff were unharmed
Police said it was too soon to say who was behind the shooting, which involved at least three masked men armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
THIRD STRIKE AGAINST CHRISTIANS
It was at least the third fatal strike against a Christian minority target since Pakistan began supporting the U.S.-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks.
"This is a disaster for the foreign missionary community," Morton told Reuters at the school in Jhika Gali just outside Murree, a hill resort about 50 km (31 miles) from Islamabad.
"They wanted to hit at the missionary community. What better way than to hit at their kids?"
Reverend Saeed Javed, a Christian pastor and father of one of the victims and the uncle of another, blamed militant Muslims.
"Personally, I think this is a terrorist attack," he told Reuters. "Good Muslims could not do this."
Khurseed Abbassi, the mayor of Murree, told Reuters that of the six dead, two were Christian and four Muslims.
BLOODSTAINED SENTRY BOX
Bloodstains could be seen in the sentry box just outside the school compound -- where the attackers shot the first guard to gain access -- and around the corrugated iron-roofed church within its walls.
Morton said three guards exchanged fire for 10-15 minutes with the three intruders before they escaped, apparently unharmed.
He said the assailants fired indiscriminately into a largely deserted boarding hostel, after ignoring elementary and secondary school buildings where children from six to 18 were in class.
Morton said the school was holding a crisis meeting to decide whether it would be able to continue operations.
Dozens of heavily armed soldiers were stationed outside the compound on a picturesque pine-fringed hillside just above Murree, which was developed as a resort by the colonial British.
The gunmen opened fire just after the children had returned to classes after a morning break at about 11.15 a.m. (0515 GMT), Morton said.
INTENDED TO SCARE
He said the fact they had not attacked the classrooms, could be an indication they had intended to scare, but not to kill Westerners.
"It is my opinion that this attack was designed to cause trouble for the Pakistan authorities," he said. "The school has been operating for 46 years and we have never had any problems with the local community in the past."
Islamic militant groups, angered by Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led campaign against al Qaeda and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan have been blamed for a string of attacks on foreign targets in recent months.
Eleven French engineers and three Pakistanis were killed in a bomb attack in the southern city of Karachi on May 8 and 12 Pakistanis died and 20 were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside the U.S. consulate on June 14.
The consulate closed Monday after a security alert, staff there said.
The violence has also targeted the Christian community.
A grenade attack in March killed five people including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat in a Protestant church in Islamabad mainly used by foreign nationals.
And last October, 16 Christians and a Muslim were massacred in a church in Bahawalpur in populous Punjab province.
Christians, Hindus and other religions make up about three percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan's 140 million people.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article...StoryID=1292247
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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