DATE=03/18/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287680

TITLE=PAKISTAN / CHURCH ATTACK (S)

BYLINE=AYAZ GUL

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has set up a

committee to investigate Sunday's deadly grenade attack on a church in

Islamabad. Five people were killed and at lease 40 others were

wounded -- most of them foreigners. The wife and daughter of a U-S diplomat are

among the dead.. From Islamabad, Ayaz Gul reports.

TEXT: The attack targeted a Protestant church in a heavily guarded

section of the city. Witnesses say a lone attacker entered the church

and threw grenades at about 70 worshipers during a Sunday sermon.

President Musharraf has set up a committee to look for security

lapses. The church is located in a heavily guarded section of

Islamabad and is attended mostly by diplomatic families.

Attacks against Christians are unusual in Pakistan. Officials have

suggested it may have been a reaction to the government's crackdown on

Islamic militants and its support to the U-S led war on terror. Aziz

Khan is a foreign ministry spokesman.

//KHAN ACT//

It's an act of terror, it's a condemnible act. But Pakistan will

continue to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations

//END ACT//

A senior U-S official, Christina Rocca, has arrived in Islamabad.

She is expected to accompany the bodies of the American victims back to

the United States. (signed)

NEB / AG / WD