Karachi: Murder victims found in consulate rubble

Three bodies, their feet and hands bound and their throats cut, were found in the rubble of the offices of the honorary consul of Macedonia, in Karachi, Pakistan, which was destroyed in an overnight explosion.

Pakistani police believe the killings and subsequent explosion may have been retaliation for the killing of seven Pakistanis in Macedonia in March.

Macedonian police had opened fire on a van, killing the Pakistanis, who they said were planning attacks on Western embassies and Macedonian officials. Macedonian police also said they found seven AK-47 assault rifles, several hand grenades and ammunition in or near the van the men used.

Karachi police said so far no one had claimed responsibility for the killings. Scribbled on the side of one wall was the word “infidel”. The night watchman, among the dead, was a Christian, according to police.

Doctors at Karachi’s Jinnah Medical Centre, who performed autopsies on the victims, said “their hands and legs were tied and their mouth sealed with cloth and their throats were slit with a sharp-edged weapon”.

The weapon was recovered still in the body of one of the victims, the doctors said.

One of the dead was the night watchman at the Macedonian consular office, located in an up-market neighbourhood of southern Karachi. However, it’s not known who the other two victims were, including one woman.

Karachi – Pakistan’s largest city and home to 14 million people – has been wracked by violence, often targeting foreigners.

Pakistani officials have blamed militants opposed to President Pervez Musharraf’s support for the US-led war on terrorism, following last year’s attacks in the United States.

While the US special forces hunt for Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network in neighbouring Afghanistan, US intelligence believes many of the top al Qaida operatives may have fled the country and are living in Pakistan, protected by Pakistani militants.

Musharraf banned several militant groups last January but in recent days the religious right-wing politicians, who won a big victory in recent elections, have released jailed members of the outlawed militant groups.

There is no indication any of these men were behind today’s killings.