PAKISTAN

Pakistani Christians Singled Out For Death

September 27, 2002

Black flags flew over churches and Christian schools were closed in Karachi yesterday as mourners buried seven Pakistani Christian workers murdered by unidentified gunmen who bound and gagged the men before shooting them in the head at point-blank range.

"We are very sad. Everyone is in mourning," said the Rev Baz Philip, of the multi-denominational Christian Church in the port city.

Police said no arrests had been made since Wednesday's massacre, in the third-floor office of the Organisation for Peace and Justice, a Pakistani Catholic- and Protestant-supported group that gives free legal advice to poor industrial workers and women.

All the victims were Christians and were selected for death by the two bearded gunmen, police quoted a Muslim co-worker as saying.

"Unlike the usual terrorists, the killers showed no haste," said Kamal Shah, police chief of Sindh state, of which Karachi is the capital. "They took a good 15 minutes in segregating the Christians and making sure that each one of their targets gets the most horrific death."

The killings marked the eighth high-profile attack on Christian or Western targets in Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf angered militant Muslims by supporting the United States in its military operations against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Police and intelligence officials said the attacks were the work of Pakistani militants working with al-Qaeda fugitives.

The slaughter of the seven Christians follows weeks of arrests, many in southern Karachi, of militant Muslims belonging to Harakat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi, blamed by the Government for a series of attacks including a bombing outside the United States consulate in June that killed 12 Pakistanis and a suicide bombing in May that killed 11 French engineers.

The Washington Post