ISLAMABAD, Pakistan'An unidentified attacker rushed into the Protestant International Church here Sunday and hurled several hand grenades, at least two of which exploded, killing five people, including two Americans, and leaving more than 40 people injured.
It was the second attack on a Christian church in Pakistan since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Killed in Sunday's blasts, which occurred shortly before 11 a.m., were a U.S. Embassy personnel official, Barbara Green, and her daughter, Kristen Wormsley, 17, a high school senior. Green's husband, Milton, who works in the embassy's information management department, was hospitalized along with his son, Zack, a fifth-grader, whose age was not released but whose injuries were described as minor.
The other victims included an Afghan, a Pakistani and a person of unknown nationality, who Pakistani security officials said had been \blown to pieces.' Sources close to the investigation of the bold attack at a place of worship frequented by Americans and other foreign diplomatic families said they were looking into whether the unidentified person might have been the attacker and whether he was assisted by others.
In Washington, President Bush denounced the killings, saying they ""cannot be tolerated.'
""I am outraged by the terrorist attack that took place today in Islamabad, Pakistan, against innocent civilians,' he said in a statement issued Sunday morning by the White House.
Bush, who was at Camp David, Md., added, ""We will work closely with the government of Pakistan to ensure those responsible for this terrorist attack face justice.'
Local hospitals and U.S. Embassy estimates reported at least 13 Americans were among those wounded in the multiple grenade attack. The strong percussions of the grenades, which one witness said might have been homemade, left blood on the floor, walls and ceiling of the spare church.
The attack came a little more than two weeks after U.S. forces began their largest ground assault on al Qaeda hide-outs in Afghanistan and amid rising threats and attacks on U.S. citizens in the region, including the abduction and execution of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
""There is a hard lesson to be drawn from this,' said an angry Wendy Chamberlin, U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, after the attack.
""President Bush and President Musharraf and other courageous leaders were absolutely right to take on the terrorists, no matter where they are, to say, 'No more.' We will not give in to those who hate. These terrorists will not win in the United States, and they will not win in Pakistan,' Chamberlin said.
