Tuesday, 19 March, 2002
Pakistan Suspends Islamabad Police Chief After Church
Attack
VOA
News 19
Mar 2002
 
Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf has suspended four senior police officers over a security
lapse connected to a deadly grenade attack on a church near the U-S Embassy in
Islamabad.
A government
spokesman says General Musharraf took the decision at high-level security talks
in Islamabad Tuesday. The four suspended officers include the capital's police
chief. Five people were killed in the attack, including a U.S. diplomat's wife
and his teenage daughter, an Afghan and a Pakistani woman. Police say they
believe the fifth victim, who is still unidentified, may be the attacker.
Forty-five people were wounded. President Musharraf expressed "dismay" that
someone with grenades could walk into a church in the city's diplomatic enclave
where dozens of diplomats, their family members and foreign aid workers were
worshipping.
There have been no
claims of responsibility for the attack. Police say they suspect it was carried
out by Islamic militants who oppose the U.S.-led war on terrorism and resent
the Pakistani government's crackdown on religious
extremists.
General Musharraf has
telephoned President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to express his
sympathies for the loss of American lives, and to give assurances that Pakistan
is making every effort to bring the killers to justice.
President Bush said
the United States will also do all it can to help with the
investigation.
The U.S. State
Department has warned Americans not to travel to Pakistan. A statement issued
late Monday, also urges U.S. citizens currently residing in, or visiting,
Pakistan to exercise utmost caution and avoid crowds and public
gatherings.
Some information
for this report provided by AFP.
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