Two shot dead at Pakistan US consolate

Gunmen opened fire on a guard post outside the US Consulate in Karachi today, killing two policemen and injuring at least five others.

Police arrested one of the assailants, an Afghan man, after chasing him through a nearby park.

It was not immediately clear how many gunmen had been shooting from the park, which is next to the heavily fortified US mission. Police cordoned off the whole area.

“We did not see anybody shooting, but we heard the shooting,” said Lieutenant Afsar, an off-duty naval officer who was nearby.

At the US embassy in the federal capital Islamabad, diplomats were scrambling to get more information on the shooting.

“We are trying to get details from the Pakistani authorities about it,” US spokesman Terry White said.

Karachi police said they took a pistol from the Afghan seized in the park.

Security has been intense around the US facility since a car bombing last June killed 12 people, all Pakistanis.

Cement barricades stop vehicles from entering the area and high walls surround the consulate.

Five suspects accused of masterminding the June bombing are on trial in the southern port city, charged with conspiracy, murder and terrorism. They face the death penalty if convicted.

The car bombing was one of a series of attacks on foreigners and minority Christians in Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf threw his support behind the US-led war against terrorism.

There has been a great deal of public outrage over a possible war on Iraq and warnings of violence from analysts as well as Muslims militants should Musharraf support the US against Saddam Hussein.