Gunmen kidnap at least 9 Christians in NW Pakistan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gunmen kidnap at least 9 Christians in NW Pakistan*
21 Jun 2008 19:15:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 21 (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen kidnapped
nine Pakistani Christians on Saturday in an attack on a religious
gathering in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.
"The gunmen came in six vehicles and attacked the house where the
Christian people were praying and took away at least nine people with
them," a senior police official, Imran Shahid, told Reuters.
Some local residents said over two dozen people had been kidnapped in
the attack in the Danishabad area of Peshawar city, the capital of North
West Frontier Province.
No one immediately claimed responsibility but the area lies close to the
Khyber tribal region where Islamist militants have been active in recent
months. The region is also notorious for smugglers and bandits.
Pakistan has seen a wave of militant violence, most of it in the
northwest and the adjoining lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border,
since the middle of the last year, but minority Christians have not been
targeted as such. (Reporting by Faris Ali; Writing by Augustine Anthony;
editing by Richard Meares)