Attack on US NGO office kills 5 in Pakistan
Thursday, 11 March 2010
PESHAWAR, Mar 10 (Xinhua): Unidentified gunmen Wednesday stormed an office of an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in a remote city in northwest Pakistan's Mansehra district, killing at least five employees, the police said.
Two women were among those killed and another two women were injured in the attack on the office of the U.S.-based World Vision at Oghi, a town 40 km away from the administrative center of Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province.
Police said the militants first threw explosives to the NGO office then opened fire on the inmates. The building was razed to ground due to the blast.
Exchange of fire is still underway between the police and the militants, locals said. Police has cordoned off the area.
The World Vision has closed all its six offices across Pakistan after the attack. The organisation works in Pakistan for the children affected by the 2005 earthquake, which left thousands of children orphaned.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said Taliban militants may be behind the attack as Oghi was known to be a major militant training center in the past.
Two women were among those killed and another two women were injured in the attack on the office of the U.S.-based World Vision at Oghi, a town 40 km away from the administrative center of Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province.
Police said the militants first threw explosives to the NGO office then opened fire on the inmates. The building was razed to ground due to the blast.
Exchange of fire is still underway between the police and the militants, locals said. Police has cordoned off the area.
The World Vision has closed all its six offices across Pakistan after the attack. The organisation works in Pakistan for the children affected by the 2005 earthquake, which left thousands of children orphaned.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said Taliban militants may be behind the attack as Oghi was known to be a major militant training center in the past.