BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan: At least 18 people were massacred as they attended a church service here yesterday in the worst-ever attack on Pakistans Christian minority. President Pervez Musharraf denounced the slaying as the work of terrorists and police said they believed it may have been carried out in retaliation for the US bombing of Afghanistan. According to witnesses, three gunmen entered the church just before the end of the weekly service and opened fire with Kalashnikov semi-automatic assault rifles, indiscriminately killing and wounding people in the Protestant congregation. The victims included the Reverend Emmanuel Mamih and a policeman, Mohamed Saleem, who was guarding the church. The service was about to finish when three bearded men got into the hall and sprayed bullets everywhere, Bahawalpur Senior Superintendent of Police Arif Ikram said. Twelve of the victims died instantly and six others died later in hospital. Another five were in a critical state late yesterday, a spokesman for the Christian community in Lahore said. Musharraf was joined by the Vatican in condemning the attack. The method used and the inhuman tactics employed clearly indicates involvement of trained terrorists of organisations bent upon creating discord and disharmony in Pakistan where Christians and Muslims have always lived in peace with mutual respect for each other, Musharraf said in a statement. I would like to assure everyone that we shall track down the culprits and bring them to justice, he said. Pope John Paul expressed absolute condemnation for what he termed a tragic act of intolerance, and sent his condolences to the victims families. The 40-year-old St Dominics church in Bahawalpur had previously been run by American preachers but most of them had left the country following the September 11 terror strikes in the United States, church officials said. Sister Anna Bakhshi, the principal of the Bahawalpur convent school, said the church was owned by the local Roman Catholic community but was being shared by a Protestant group.She said she believed the killers had intended to attack a Catholic service, which would have been attended by a larger number of people, but were probably not aware of a change in the schedule made only last week. Ikram said he suspected members from any one of a number of Islamic militant groups which operate in the area were responsible for the slaughter, although police were still investigating all leads. It could be linked to the US attacks against Afghanistan. It could be a retaliatory act of terrorism, he said.
But more often it was the wealthy bishops and cathedral chapters (the collegiate bodies of canons, presided over by the dean) themselves who were the driving force behind building schemes.