Pakistan Hospital Blast Kills Four

AP | 8/09/02

[kattracks]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug 09, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- An explosion at a Christian hospital outside of Islamabad killed at least three people Friday in what appeared to be the latest attack by terrorists against Western interests in less than a week.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[kattracks]

Four Dead, Many Hurt in Apparent Grenade Attack

Aug. 8

— ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Four people, including three nurses from a Christian missionary hospital, died in Pakistan on Friday in an apparent grenade attack, and up to 20 people were wounded, hospital and police officials said.

"The nurses were coming out of the chapel when someone threw explosives," said Clement Bakhshi, an accounts officer at the hospital in Taxila, about 12 miles west of the capital, Islamabad.

"Three of our nurses have expired and up to 20 people have been injured, most of them nurses."

A police source in Taxila said one of the attackers had apparently blown himself up in a suicide attack.

"One was killed and two fled, and the explosives were tied to the body of the one who died," he told Reuters.

The incident came just four days after six Pakistanis were shot dead in a gun attack on a Christian missionary school for foreign students in the resort town of Murree.

Pakistani officials said the raid on the school appeared to be aimed at the foreign community rather than at a minority faith in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

In March, five people including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat died in a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad. Last October, 16 Christians and one Muslim were massacred in a church in Bahawalpur in populous Punjab province.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

.

[EaglesUpForever]

Oh, great, another "holy murder." What sort of "religion" is this? I guess we will have to make the activities of Crips and Bloods tax exempt, as they behave identically to the "religion" of Islam...

[freethinkingman]

Good one Eagles. Ha I think we just need to take these bastards out.

[KQQL]

W is right Islam sure is a peaceful religion.....^@__*^

[KQQL]

Answer to your question.

Islam is a peaceful religion.....^@__*^

[ppaul]

[T]hree nurses from a Christian missionary hospital.....

Murdered!

But wait! This cannot be. President Bush assured us that Islam is the "religion of peace", didn't he?

[kattracks]

3 Pakistan Nurses Die From Grenade

TAXILA, Pakistan, Aug 09, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Three attackers hurled grenades Friday at women leaving a church on the grounds of a Presbyterian hospital in Pakistan, killing three nurses and wounding about 25 people in the second attack this week against Christians.

One of the attackers also died in the assault at 7:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. EDT) on the grounds of the hospital in Taxila, about 25 miles northwest of Islamabad, regional police commander Moravet Shah said.

All the victims were Pakistanis, and about half were seriously wounded, hospital officials and police said.

Police said they believed the attack was linked to an assault four days ago against a school for children of Christian missionaries about 35 miles northeast of Islamabad in which six Pakistanis were killed.

"It is clear that terrorists are targeting the Christian community in Pakistan," said S. K. Tressler, the government minister in charge of minority affairs. "The entire Pakistani nation will have to fight terrorism."

The attack occurred as worshippers were leaving a church on the hospital grounds, according to Dr. Ernest Lall, a former hospital director who was in the church. The service was attended mostly by women and children, and women traditionally exit first.

The three assailants, one of them brandishing a pistol, ran through the front gate of the hospital grounds, locked two watchmen in a guard booth, then rushed at the women with the grenades, police said. The explosions shattered windows and gouged two large holes in the pavement outside the church. Shoes belonging to some of the victims were seen scattered outside.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered in front of the hospital's locked gates, while inside the hospital, women wailed and pounded their chests. Staff members hugged each other or stood in shock.

"I was still inside the church when I heard explosions," said staff member Margif Tariq. "Windowpanes were falling on us, everyone was crying, everyone was in pain. ... When I came out, I saw dozens of women were lying on the pavement and most of them were bleeding."

Erik Masih, one of the security guards locked in the booth, said he tried to stop the men but "one of them pulled out a pistol and pushed me inside the room."

"I was inside the room for a few seconds when I heard the sound of explosions," he said. "At that moment, the man who was guarding me outside ran away toward the main gate."

The hospital, which is supported by the Presbyterian Church USA and the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, was founded in 1922 and treats mostly poor Muslim patients. Following the attack, outpatient services were suspended for the day.

"We have been here since 1922, and someone throws a bomb," Lall said. "I don't know why. It is somebody who must be against Christianity. We never thought we would be a target like that."

Shah, the regional police commander, said he believed the assailants were linked to the Murree shootings on Monday because the attacker who died was wearing clothing similar to that of the school attackers.

One day after the Murree attack, three men believed to have carried out the school raid blew themselves up with grenades after being stopped by police in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Before killing themselves, the three men in Kashmir admitted to attacking the school and warned that other groups like them "plan to carry out similar attacks on Americans and nonbelievers, and you will soon hear about it," Shah said.

Terrorism has been on the rise in Pakistan since President Gen. Pervez Musharraf abandoned the Afghan Taliban and joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism. Extremists have vowed revenge against both Musharraf and his Western supporters.

"If immediate steps are not taken by authorities to provide protection to Christians, I fear that it will lead to the start of genocide in Pakistan," said Shahbaz Bhaddi, leader of the All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance. "We strongly condemn this incident and we will definitely stage protests. We will not remain silent."

On March 17, a grenade attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic quarter killed five people, including an American woman, her 17-year-old daughter and the lone assailant.

In October, 16 people were killed in an attack on a Christian church in Behawalpur, a city in south-central Pakistan.

By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Writer

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[Larry Lucido]

Well, if the victims would just abandon their west bank settlements, this would stop happenting . . . Oh, wait, wrong grievance. Well, I'm sure these victims are guilty of something. . .

[Lucky]

"We never thought we would be a target like that."...That's strange, why wouldn't they think they'd be a target? If you're a Christian or a Jew, you are a target.

[TomSmedley]

Let's see. Christians who act consistently with their faith build hospitals that serve everyone, Christian and muslim alike. Muslims who act consistently with their faith bomb places of healing and murder the healers.

Same God under different names? What a quaint, naive, and pathetically childish notion. So 20th century.

[hoosierham]

I notice the murdering scum only held the (possibly Muslim) guards at gunpoint whilst their comrades killed the nurses.

Absolute proof there is no RELIGOUS motivation .......NOT!

iTS ABOUT TIME WE SHUT DOWN THIS VICIOUS CULT ; YOU KNOW THE SAME CULT THAT HAS BEEN DESTROYING CHURCHES IN THE BALKANS WITH LITTLE PRESS NOTICE, THE SAME CULT SUPPORTED BY THE CHRISTIAN-HATING BUBBA CLINTON . It was a mistake to support holy warriors in Afghanistan 20 years ago, it was a crime to support them in the Balkans and it suicide not to see them for the evil they are now .

[SarahW]

How low can they go?

[cardinal4]

Same God under different names? What a quaint, naive, and pathetically childish notion. So 20th century.

Bump.

[knighthawk]

An explosion at a Christian hospital outside of Islamabad killed at least three people Friday in what appeared to be the latest attack by terrorists against Western interests in less than a week.

'Just after the Friday prayers the religion of peace strikes'-list

If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

[SJackson]

'Just after the Friday prayers the religion of peace strikes'-list

??????????????

I thought I was on the "just before the hash wears off" list.

That's OK, keep me on both.

[Brytani]

The religion of peace strikes again.

[knighthawk]

No, no. Just look at Iran. There the weekly anti-US and Israel protests are always held after the Friday prayers. What happens there that these people are so hyped when they leave the mosque?