US diplomat escapes gun attack
2008-08-26 20:19
Peshawar - Gunmen opened fire on the top US diplomat in north-western Pakistan early on Tuesday as she left for work in her armoured vehicle, police and embassy officials said. No one was killed or wounded in the shooting.
Lynne Tracy, principal officer for the consulate in the bustling city of Peshawar, was about 100m from her house when two men with AK-47s jumped out of their dark blue Land Cruiser and sprayed her car with dozens of rounds of ammunition.
Her driver reversed the vehicle and peeled back to her home, said Arshad Khan, the local police chief and senior investigator in case.
The brazen attack came hours after the collapse of the ruling coalition that drove US ally Pervez Musharraf from the presidency one week ago, throwing more power to Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated ex-leader Benazir Bhutto.
His party, which holds the largest bloc in Parliament, moved almost immediately to calm US fears that the 5-month-old government was paying too little attention to Islamic militants, banning the Taliban following a string of suicide bombings.
It also rejected a militant cease-fire offer in Bajur, a rumoured hiding place for Osama bin Laden, where an army offensive has reportedly killed hundreds in recent weeks and sent 200 000 others fleeing.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attack.
Though no one was wounded by gunfire, a rickshaw driver was hospitalised after his three-wheeled taxi was hit by the consulate vehicle during its rapid retreat to Tracy's home, he said.
Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, though mainly in tribal regions where US officials say insurgents have found safe havens from which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.
- AP