Global General

Police: Gunmen attack Japanese vehicle in Pakistan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-28 17:38

A plainclothes policeman speaks to a Japanese consulate official, who wanted to stay unidentified, next to the consulate vehicle which was attacked by gunmen in Karachi October 28, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

KARACHI, Pakistan - Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a Japanese consular vehicle in Pakistan's largest city Thursday, wounding two of the mission's Pakistani employees and underscoring the poor security situation in the country.

The attack may have been an attempted robbery because the three Pakistanis in the car had stopped by a bank to get cash before they were ambushed, police official Javed Akbar Riaz said. The two wounded men were in stable condition.

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Crime has long been a problem in Karachi, a sprawling port city of more than 16 million with a history of political, ethnic and religious tensions. Criminals appear to have grown more active over the past decade as Pakistan's government has tried to curb the growth of the Taliban, and the Islamist militants are believed to benefit from their links to crime syndicates.

Kazuhiro Kawase, a spokesman at Japan's Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, confirmed the shooting and said no Japanese diplomatic officials were in the car. Police in Karachi said the vehicle's license plates indicated it belonged to the Japanese consulate.

"We are still confirming what sort of damage there was to the vehicle or what sort of injuries people inside might have sustained." Kawase said.

Still, the attack could lead foreign diplomatic missions to upgrade their security procedures in Karachi and elsewhere. Foreigners, including Americans, have been attacked several times in Pakistan, and many of the attacks are believed linked to Islamist militant groups.