wfn.org | 3 killed at Presbyterian hospital in Pakistan

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Note #7377 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

09-August-2002
02290

3 killed at Presbyterian hospital in Pakistan

Attack is second in week on Christian institutions near capital

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - For the second time this week, terrorists have attacked a Christian institution in Pakistan.

On Friday morning (Aug. 9), three men lobbed grenades at hospital workers as they left the morning chapel service at the Christian (Presbyterian) Hospital in Taxila, near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Presbyterian Church (USA) officials here confirmed wire service reports that four people were killed - three nurses at the hospital and one of the attackers. The other two assailants are still at large, according to Pakistani police.

The blasts also injured more than two dozen people, most of whom were cut by flying glass, according to the hospital's chief administrator, Ernest Lall. He told CNN the attack "appears to be some sort of anti-Christian terrorism."

The Taxila hospital is one of two major facilities operated by the United Presbyterian Medical Board of Pakistan, a partnership between the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan and the PC(USA). The other is in Sialkot.

Taxila is near Murree, where earlier this week three other men - now believed to be dead - opened fire at the Christian school there, killing six people. PC(USA) medical missionaries Jim and Carol Brees are posted at the Sialkot hospital, but they joined their children in Murree this week after the attack at the school, which the children attend.

"This is a regrettable repetition of the attack on Murree," said Bill Simmons, coordinator for administration and finance in the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD).

WMD officials met all morning Friday, assessing the situation at Taxila and talking by phone with David Francis, an official of the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan who went to Taxila immediately after the attack.

According to Francis, security guards delayed the attackers when they tried to enter the hospital campus, preventing an attack on the staff while it was gathered in the chapel. He said the loss of life in that case might have been much greater.

A similar attack last year on a Sunday morning church service in Behawalpur killed 16 worshipers.

Simmons said PC(USA) and Presbyterian Church of Pakistan officials have made no decisions about hospital operations but will meet again on Aug. 12.

Christian Hospital, founded by Dr. J.B. Martin, began serving rural patients in 1922. It is classified as a general hospital and is known for prevention of blindness and for restoring sight. It is the largest eye-service hospital in the world. Of its 766 beds, 587 are dedicated to eye patients, the others to general and obstetrical patients.

There is an active community health program in Taxila that not only provides well-baby and mother care but also provides literacy training for women in rural communities. The PC(USA) specifically supports one Pakistani health workers who works in two isolated villages.

The work of Christian Hospital is assisted by grants from the PC(USA) Thank Offering and Extra Commitment Opportunity account number 865364. The Medical Benevolence Foundation raises funds for medical training.
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