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Karachi suicide blast kills 11 Frenchmen

Al-Qaida link suspected

AFP, Karachi
Eleven French naval workers and three Pakistanis were killed in a terrorist attack by a suicide car bomber who ploughed into a bus outside the Sheraton Hotel yesterday.
Twenty-three others -- 12 French and 11 Pakistanis -- were wounded when the bomb shredded the minibus just before 8:00am local time, scattering body parts and damaging nearby buildings, Pakistan's Information Minister Nisar Memon said.
Pakistani police and French officials both said they suspected that the al-Qaida terror network of Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, could be behind the attack.
French armed forces chief of staff General Jean-Pierre Kelche said Wednesday there was a "significant likelihood" that al-Qaeda was
responsible.
He said the bombers had targeted the West in general and specifically countries participating in the US-led multinational coalition fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, which is a key Western ally in the war on terrorism, Sindh provincial police chief Kamal Shah said: "We cannot rule out the involvement of al-Qaeda ... We will investigate the possible involvement of al-Qaeda."
Foreigners appear to be in increasing danger in Pakistan following September 11 as al-Qaeda fighters slip across the border to escape the US-led war in Afghanistan, to which France has contributed Mirage jet bombers.
Yesterday's blast -- the worst ever attack on foreigners in Pakistan -- followed a grenade attack at a church in Islamabad in March in which an American diplomat's wife and stepdaughter were among five killed.
It coincided with the resumption of the trial of four radical Muslims accused of kidnapping and murdering US reporter Daniel Pearl earlier this year.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called an emergency meeting of his security chiefs and told them Pakistan was being subjected to a systematic terrorist campaign "for its bold and courageous stand against international
terrorism".
The meeting "decided to strengthen the county's western border (with Afghanistan) and reinforce vigilance against any infiltration from those borders," an official statement said.
Musharraf said in a television interview he considered the bombing "an attack on Pakistan as well as France" and warned of a tough government response.
"We feel that this act of international terrorism has to be met with full force," he said.
"We would appeal to the international community to understand our domestic environment resulting from our cooperation against international terrorism, understand our concerns and also understand that Pakistan will do and is already doing all that it can to combat terrorism."
French President Jacques Chirac also reaffirmed "France's determination to do everything possible to fight international terrorism".
Chirac dispatched his defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, to Pakistan and called on the Pakistani authorities to "do everything possible to find and punish those responsible".
The French prosecutor's office said officers from the anti-terrorist section and the DST counterintelligence service would leave for Pakistan "as soon as possible".
The massive explosion in this southern port city destroyed the
Pakistan navy bus, blew out the windows of buildings 100 metres (330 feet) away and left a large crater on the ground outside the luxury hotel.
Pieces of the alleged bomber remained in the mangled car, which was blown 50 metres (115 feet) away by the force of the blast.
"The bus is littered with blood and human parts and metal is scattered everywhere," said Sheraton hotel employee Mohammad Aqeel.
"On both sides it is devastating damage. I can see the front of the Pearl Continental and I can't see any glass on any of the windows. There are shops in front of the hotel and they have all been blown away."
The New Zealand and Pakistan cricket teams were staying at the Pearl ahead of the second Test match due to start here Wednesday morning. New Zealand cancelled the tour and announced the team's immediate return home.
The French naval workers were from the Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN), a French state-owned company involved in jointly building with Pakistan three Agosta 90B class submarines.
The company announced it was recalling its expatriate workers -engineers, technicians and factory workers. A total of 40 French nationals were sent to Karachi to work on the submarine project.