March 20, 2002	Wednesday	Muharram 5, 1423

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WASHINGTON, March 19: Sunday’s terrorist attack on a church in Islamabad is being considered here directly aimed at both the United States and the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Reports in the US media recall the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and suggest the Islamabad attack reinforces the impression that religious extremists, angered by the Musharraf government’s cooperation with the US, may be striking back.

President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell had issued statements on Sunday condemning the attack, with the president saying he was “outraged” by the killings. A State Department spokesman was later reported as saying the Daniel Pearl murder showed that a number of extremist groups operating in Pakistan nursed an anti-American ideology and had the means to act against US interests.

The spokesman said these groups “have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to commit horrific crimes against their government, innocent civilians and foreigners”.

The Islamabad incident has taken place when anger at Pearl’s murder was beginning to subside, and has resurrected concern about the activities of militant groups in Pakistan and the general security situation in the country. It could put fresh strains on the US-Pakistan relationship.

There has also been some speculation that extremists may have been sending some kind of a signal directed at the possible extradition of Omar Saeed Sheikh, the main suspect in the Pearl case, to the US. Omar has been indicted by a grand jury here and charged with kidnapping and murder.

The attack has come two weeks after the start of Operation Anaconda in east Afghanistan that is now said to be in a winding- down stage. On Saturday, the US embassy in Islamabad had issued a general warning for its citizens in Karachi against a possible threat to security.

The police were said to have found few clues to the church outrage, and one report said the grenades used were Russian-made. But these have been commonly available in the arms bazaar that has been flourishing since the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan.