ISLAMABAD (voa) – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has suspended four senior police officers over a security lapse connected to Sunday’s deadly grenade attack on a church near the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.
A government spokesman says General Musharraf took the decision at high-level security talks in Islamabad Tuesday. The suspended officers include Islamabad’s police chief.
President Musharraf expressed “dismay” that someone with grenades could walk into a church in the city’s diplomatic enclave where dozens of diplomats, their family members and foreign aid workers were worshipping.
Five people were killed in the attack, including two U.S. nationals – an American embassy worker and her daughter – and also an Afghan national and a Pakistani woman.
Police say they believe the fifth victim, who is still unidentified, may have been the attacker. Forty-five people were wounded.
There have been no claims of responsibility. Police say they suspect the attack was carried out by Islamic militants who oppose the U.S.-led war on terrorism and Pakistan’s recent crackdown on Islamic extremists.
General Musharraf has telephoned President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to express his sympathies for the loss of American lives, and to give assurances that Pakistan is making every effort to bring the killers to justice.
President Bush said the United States will also do all it can to help with the investigation.
The U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Pakistan. A statement issued late Monday, also urges American citizens currently residing in, or visiting, Pakistan to exercise utmost caution and avoid crowds and public gatherings.
