Pakistan: Top US diplomat escapes gun attack

[August 26, 2008]  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Gunmen opened fire on the top U.S. diplomat in northwestern Pakistan early Tuesday as she left for work in her armored vehicle, police and embassy officials said. No one was killed in the attack.

Lynne Tracy, principal officer for the consulate in the bustling city of Peshawar, was 100 yards 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 the case.

The brazen attack came hours after the breakup of Pakistan's ruling coalition government, a fracture that could concentrate more power into the hands of a party that says it is committed to supporting the U.S. war on terror.

The government Monday announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban -- blamed for a wave of suicide bombings in recent days -- and hours earlier rejected a cease-fire offer in the Bajur tribal region by the militants.

Khan said Tracy's Land Cruiser was damaged, but only slightly, thanks to its heavy armor.

Though no one was killed by the gunfire, a rickshaw driver was hurt when his three-wheeled taxi was hit by the consulate vehicle, he said. The man was hospitalized, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known.

Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, a rumored hiding place of Osama bin Laden, though mainly in tribal regions where U.S. officials say insurgents have found safe havens in which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Peshawar, a crowded, dusty city, has not been immune, and concerns about militant activity in and around it prompted the government to stage a paramilitary offensive in neighboring Khyber tribal region earlier this year.

Talat Masood, a political and military analyst, said American and other diplomats seen as allies in the war on terror, could increasingly be the targets of militant attacks, especially in the next few weeks.

"I think they have to be very careful" he said, noting the army was intensifying its campaign in tribal regions along the Afghan border. "They should take a low profile, their movements should be restricted during this period."

Masood did not think Western allies should scale back their presence, however, saying that would only embolden the militants and demoralize Pakistanis.

There have been a string of suicide bombings since Pervez Musharraf resigned as president after nearly nine divisive years in power just over a week ago.

The Taliban claimed to be behind a twin suicide bombing at a weapons manufacturing complex near the federal capital, Islamabad, that killed 67 people -- one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in the country.

There have been at least three bloody attacks since then. The Taliban spokesman could not immediately be reached to comment on Tuesday's attack.

Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family.

However, while there are occasional attacks on Western targets, ones directly targeting U.S. officials are still relatively unusual. Top diplomats in particular tend to have high security and are often restricted in what places they are allowed to visit.

Along with its embassy, the U.S. has three consulates in Pakistan -- in Peshawar, the eastern city of Lahore and the southern city of Karachi. In 2006, a suicide attacker blew himself up outside the Karachi consulate, killing a U.S. diplomat.

In 2002, five people, including two Americans, were killed when a militant hurled grenades into a Protestant church in Islamabad attended by members of the diplomatic community.

The U.S. Embassy provided few details about Tuesday's attack, saying only that there was a "security incident" involving three consulate employees. It would not name or describe the employees.

"There were no injuries and minimal damage to the vehicle," spokesman Lou Fintor added. "We are coordinating with Pakistani authorities in investigating the incident."

Meanwhile Tuesday, in Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, a bomb rigged to a motorcycle parked near the stage of a political rally in the town of Jaaferabad wounded at least 20 people, some critically, police official Nazir Ahmad said.

The attacks come as the country's ruling coalition has crumbled. Just a week before, the two main parties united to drive Musharraf, the stalwart U.S. ally in the war on terror, from the presidency, but their partnership collapsed Monday over disputes about his successor and how to restore judges he had ousted.

The main ruling Pakistan People's Party is expected to cobble together a new coalition now that its key junior partner has quit, avoiding the need for another general election.

The People's Party, long led by slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, moved almost immediately to calm U.S. fears that the government is paying too little attention to extremism, banning the Taliban group and demanding they surrender their arms.

Bhutto's widower and political successor, Asif Ali Zardari, has said he will run for president, and is expected to win easily. The party submitted his nomination papers Tuesday.

[Associated Press; By RIAZ KHAN]

Associated Press writers Robin McDowell and Munir Ahmad in Islamabad and Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.

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