Posted on 09/25/2002 7:43:04 AM PDT by ppaul
KARACHI, Sept 25 (AFP) - Seven Pakistani Christians were killed and another person wounded by unknown gunmen who entered their office and shot each in the head with a single bullet Wednesday in the volatile southern city of Karachi, police said.
The attack is the latest in a series of deadly strikes on Christian targets since Pakistan signed up a year ago to help the United States crush Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda network.
Police say two assailants armed with pistols entered the office of the Institute for Peace and Justice at around 9:00 am (0300 GMT) and tied up and gagged staff members.
They shot eight in the head at close range and fled.
The carnage on the third floor of the 12-storey Rimpa Plaza office block was discovered by an employee when he arrived for work around one hour later, police said.
"This seems to be an act of terrorism," Sindh provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah told reporters at the scene.
Shah said seven of the victims, including five dead, were found behind a library desk. Another dead body was found in the toilet.
"All of them had been shot once and the bullets were fired from point blank range," Shah said.
Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said six people died instantly.
"These people were shot in the head and their mouths were covered with tape. Their hands were also tied," Jamil told AFP.
"I have been told by the administrator of the organisation, that those who had been killed were Christians."
A senior police official who asked not to be named confirmed that all the dead were Christians. He named them as Mushtaq Roshan, Iqbal Allah Rakha, Aslam Martin, Kamran Anjum, John Menezes and Benjamin Talib.
A seventh Pakistani man, Edwin Foster, died later in Karachi's Civil Hospital from a bullet wound to his head.
An eighth victim, Robyn Sharif, also shot in the head, was in a serious condition and undergoing treatment.
The senior police official said the attack was "meticulously executed."
"They knew how many people were inside and they knew the layout of the office," he told AFP.
Pakistani Muslims also worked for the charity, which operated on donations from Christians and private individuals to fight for the oppressed in this teeming port city of 14 million people.
The Catholic Archbishop of the eastern city of Lahore, Lawrence Saldanha, a former chairman of the Institute, said it defended poor, women and labourers, "irrespective of race and religion."
"It was very active in voicing the grievances of people against injustices, be it an illegal eviction of poor from their homes or women suffering from violence or victims of any form of injustice."
Saldanha blamed Islamic militant supporters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and condemned them for targeting a charity.
"The assailants must know that this welfare organisation had been working for human rights of all human beings in Pakistan much, much before the war against terrorism started in Afghanistan."
The attack is the fifth deadly strike on Christian targets since October, when gunmen sprayed worshippers in a Catholic Church in eastern Punjab province, killing 16 people.
Two other churches have been hit since then, including the foreign diplomat-filled Protestant International Church in the capital Islamabad on March 17, in which five people were killed.
The chapel of the Taxila Christian Hospital west of Islamabad was attacked in August. Four nurses were killed with grenades.
Armed men stormed a Christian school for the children of Western aid workers in the Murree hills northeast of Islamabad, also in August, killing six Pakistanis.
Pakistani Christian leaders have said they feel their community is bearing the brunt of revenge attacks by enraged Islamic militants because Christians are associated with the West.
"This is a clear retaliation from al-Qaeda and pro-Taliban organisations," Christian rights leader Shahbaz Bhatti, who heads the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, told AFP.
"If such attacks continue we may have to appeal to the international community for protection of our lives, churches, institutions and property in Pakistan."
The attacks on Christians have claimed 31 lives, including one attacker.
Link to article HERE.
My prayers are offered up to Jesus through His mother, the Blessed Virgin, for the souls of all Christians murdered for their belief and faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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