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To: HG who wrote (338)	10/28/2001 1:26:16 PM
From: HG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1595

Mushie boy, whose spreading terror in the region now ? Sau choohe khake billi haj ko chaali !!!! LOLOL Did you fund their Kalashnikovs ? 18 dead in attack on Catholic church in Pakistan AFP (Multan (Pakistan), October 28) Masked gunmen shot dead up to 18 Christians at Sunday prayers in an unprecedented attack in the central Pakistani town of Bahawalpur, witnesses said. President Pervez Musharraf denounced the slaying as the work of accomplished terrorists and police said they believed it may have been carried out in retaliation for the US bombing of Afghanistan. According to witnesses, three gunmen entered the church just before the end of the weekly service and opened fire with Kalashnikov semi-automatic assault rifles, indiscriminately killing and wounding people in the Protestant congregation. The victims included the Reverend Emmanuel Mamih and a policeman, Mohammad Saleem, who was guarding the church against Islamic extremists who operate in this eastern rural area. "The service was about to finish when three bearded men got into the hall and sprayed bullets everywhere," Bahawalpur Senior Superintendent of Police Arif Ikram told AFP. Twelve of the victims died instantly and six others died later in hospital. Another five were in a critical state late Sunday, a spokesman for the Christian community in Lahore told AFP. Musharraf was joined by the Vatican in condemning the attack. "The method used and the inhuman tactics employed clearly indicates involvement of trained terrorists of organisations bent upon creating discord and disharmony in Pakistan where Christians and Muslims have always lived in peace with mutual respect for each other," Musharraf said in a statement. "I would like to assure everyone that we shall track down the culprits and bring them to justice," he said. Pope John Paul II expressed "absolute condemnation" for what he termed a "tragic act of intolerance", and sent his condolences to the victims' families. The 40-year-old St Dominic's church in Bahawalpur had previously been run by American preachers but most of them had left the country following the September 11 terror strikes in the United States, church officials said. Sister Anna Bakhshi, the principal of the Bahawalpur convent school, told AFP the church was owned by the local Roman Catholic community but was being shared by a Protestant group. She said she believed the killers had intended to attack a Catholic service, which would have been attended by a larger number of people, but were probably not aware of a change in the schedule made only last week. Ikram said he suspected Islamic extremists from any one of a number of militant groups which operate in the area were responsible for the slaughter, although police were still investigating all leads. "It could be linked to the US attacks against Afghanistan. It could be a retaliatory act of terrorism," he said. Christian Liberation Front of Pakistan spokesman Shahbaz Bhatti said Islamic extremists had been calling for jihad (holy war) in the town since the US-led airstrikes began against the Taliban in Afghanistan on October 7. "A few days before this incident an application was made to the police in Bahawalpur for more security at this church but nothing was done. We demand more security for the minorities all over the country," he said. "Since the American attacks against Afghanistan there have been a lot of protests and people calling for jihad against the West and all infidels (non-Muslims)." He said he believed the gunmen came from one of three known extremist groups: the Sipah-i-Sahaba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Harakat ul-Mujahedin. Thirty-five Pakistani militants including Harakat commander Farooq were killed in a US bombing raid in Kabul this week, according to religious party sources. Harakat has been named on a US blacklist as a terrorist group. The Jaish-e-Mohammad was named on a British terrorist list in April this year. Both groups are concerned mainly with the Muslim separatist insurgency in Kashmir, while the Sipah-i-Sahaba is a Sunni sectarian outfit accused of murdering Shiites. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Christians have expressed fears they could become targets if unrest broke out in Muslim Pakistan over opposition to the US attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan's ruling Muslim Taliban militia. Six men on three motorcycles rode up to Saint Dominic's Church and pulled out AK-47 assault rifles from bags, one witness said. "They were carrying the bags and when they came they took out guns," the witness said. They shot two police guards before entering the packed church firing indiscriminately. Police have been posted at Christian churches since September 11 attacks on the United States blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden who is believed to be in Afghanistan. Christians are about one per cent of Pakistan's 120 million population. "Women were among the dead," said a police deputy superintendent. Dozens of worshippers were wounded, some seriously, he added. It was the first such attack on Christians in the region, he said. The area, south of Multan near the Indian border has a history of strife between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim extremists. Up to 1,200 Muslims have died in sectarian strife in the last nine years. A witness said the police guards were asleep when the unidentified attackers rode up. They shot both policmen, killing one, the witness, who did not want to be identified, said. Four gunmen entered the church while two waited outside to shoot those who managed to flee, he said. Saint Dominic's is a Catholic church but a Protestant service was being held at the time of the attack. In 1997, Muslim rioters in southern Punjab sacked 13 churches and a school and burned and looted hundreds of houses, saying some Christians had committed blasphemy by throwing torn pages of the Koran into a mosque. A 1986 law which makes blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad punishable by death has been used to intimidate religious minorities, including Christians, rights groups say. Around 2,500 people are said to be in jail or to face charges for blasphemy.