Police and FBI agents capture five men for allegedly killing Christians

Tuesday, October 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) _ Working closely with FBI agents, Pakistani police Tuesday captured five suspects wanted in connection with a spate of recent attacks on Christians, authorities said.

The men _ three Afghans and two Pakistanis _ were captured in a pre-dawn raid on the Shamshatoo refugee camp, about 20 miles east of Peshawar, police said.

FBI agents took part in the operation, matching at least one of the men to a photograph of a wanted suspect, according to Pakistani authorities. The men are now being interrogated by a team of local police and FBI agents, police said.

Authorities plan to question the men about three recent attacks on Christians. In September, seven Christian charity workers were killed in their office in Karachi. In August, gunmen attacked a Christian missionary school near Islamabad and in another raid, militants attacked a Presbyterian hospital in Taxila, 25 miles west of the capital, killing four nurses.

â€œTwo Pakistanis who were arrested from a refugee camp with three Afghans are associates of an outlawed Sunni militant group,â€ another police official told The Associated Press. It was not clear if the Afghans were members of the ousted Taliban regime, or part of another organization, police said.

The Karachi office attack and other violence against Westerners and Christians have been attributed to the Harakat ul-Mujahedeen Al-Almi group. Police in Karachi have arrested 23 members of the group. Authorities would not say if any of the men captured Tuesday were believed to be from that group.

At least 37 people have been killed and about 100 injured in several acts of violence against Christians and Westerners in recent months. About 3.8 million Christians, accounting for 2.5 percent of the population, live in Pakistan, which is 96 percent Muslim.