Five people killed in Pakistan church grenade attack

Two attackers have hurled grenades into a Protestant church in Pakistan killing five people and wounding about 40.

Police said 10 Americans were among the wounded along with 12 Pakistanis, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Ethiopian, one German, and a Sri Lankan diplomat.

Senior Police Official Nasir Khan Durrani described the attack as a terrorist act.

Dozens of police and soldiers surrounded the Protestant International Church, located in a heavily guarded diplomatic compound. Ambulances rushed to the scene and rescuers scrambled to help the injured.

Mr Durrani said five people were killed. Four bodies - three of them female - were brought to the Polyclinic Hospital. Witnesses said two of the dead were teenage girls.

Witnesses said the attackers entered the back of the church during the sermon and began hurling grenades at the congregation of around 70 worshippers.

Three of the grenades exploded, and the attackers escaped despite the presence of security guards at the scene, police said.

"I saw two men come into the back of the church into the main sanctuary and threw what looked like hand grenades," said Cindy Jess, an American who did not give her hometown.

Although no group claimed responsibility, suspicion fell on Islamic militants, angered by President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on Islamic extremism.

"It's a highly deplorable attempt to spoil our relations with foreign countries. Choosing this place is meant to embarrass the government," Pakistani Law Minister Khalid Ranjha said.