Author: Reuters
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 26, 2002
Two gunmen, burst into the offices
of a Christian charity in Karachi on Wednesday and tied up and shot dead
seven Christians, police said. The attack was the latest in a series of
bloody assaults on Christian or Western targets.
Six men died instantly, and doctors
said a seventh died shortly afterwards at Karachi's main hospital. Police
said the seven, all Pakistanis were shot through the head at point blank
range with a pistol.
Doctors said an eighth man faced
permanent paralysis of his left side from a head wound and needed an operation,
while a ninth was under sedation after being beaten up in the attack.
The 'attack took place at the city
centre offices of the Idare-e Amin-o-Insaf, or the Organisation for Peace
and Justice.
"The gunmen first roped all the
people inside the room, they also taped their mouths," a police officer
told Reuters. "After, they fired straight at their heads."
"The dead bodies were found lying
on chairs," said provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah. "It appeared
that they were forced to sit there. Their hands were tied and their mouths
were also taped. We found eight empty bullet shells of a TT pistol which
means that they were shot point blank," he said.
"Apparently it's an act of terror,"
Shah added. "But we are investigating it with an open mind and don't rule
out a possible link with recent attacks on minorities and foreign nationals."
