& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

US diplomat escapes gun attack in Pakistan

AP, Peshawar
Gunmen opened fire on the top US diplomat in northwestern Pakistan early yesterday as she left for work in her armoured 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 thecase.
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 US 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 armour.
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 hospitalised, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known.
Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, a rumoured hiding place of Osama bin Laden, though mainly in tribal regions where US officials say insurgents have found safe havens in which to plan artacks 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 neighbouring 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" duringthis period."
Masood did not think Western allies should scale back their pres-
ence, however, saying that would only embolden the militants and demoralise PaJdstanis.
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.
TheTaliban 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 thecountry.
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 US diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family.
However, while there are occasional attacks on Western targets, ones directly targeting US 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 US has three consulates in Pakistan in Peshawar, the eastern city of l>ahore and the southern city of Karachi. In 2006, a suicide attacker blew himself up outside the Karachi consulate, kOlinga US diplomat.
In 2002, five people, including two Americans, were killed when a mili-tant hurled grenades into a Protestant church in Islamabad attended by members of the diplomatic community.
The US 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 US ally in the war on terror, from die presidency, but their partnership collapsed Monday over disputes about his successor and how to restorejudgeshehad ousted.