Author:
Publication: The Associated Press
Date: June 14, 2002
A car bomb exploded Friday outside
the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing two people and injuring
several others, police said.
The blast occurred around 11:15
a.m. (1:15 a.m. EDT) in the sprawling southern port city.
Police said the bomb was concealed
in a white car. The blast caused substantial damage to the consulate, destroying
the guard post. Windows were shattered in both the consulate and the nearby
Marriott Hotel, and a number of cars were damaged.
Witnesses reported seeing body parts
scattered about the scene. At least one of the dead was a Pakistani embassy
guard in plainclothes.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene,
and ambulances were shuttling the injured to nearby hospitals. Police sealed
off streets in the area.
Violence against foreigners by Islamic
militants has increased since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf threw
his support behind the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl was abducted and murdered in Karachi in January while working on
a story about Islamic militants.
Suicide bombings - once unheard
of here - have occurred twice. Both attacks were believed to have been
carried out by al-Qaida.
On March 17, a grenade attack at
a church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave killed five people, including
two Americans.
Last month, 11 French engineers
and three others were killed in a suicide attack in front of a Karachi
hotel.
