Local Pakistani military chief's car attacked in Karachi

KARACHI (AFP) Jun 10, 2004
Gunmen opened fire on the car of the military commander in Pakistan's troubled city of Karachi early Thursday injuring at least five people but leaving the commander unhurt, officials said.

"There was some firing on the car of Corps Commander Lieutenant General Ahsan Azeem," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

"He is safe and he is in his office," the spokesman said.

Local military officer Colonel Idris Malik told AFP the attackers targeted the general's official convoy of several vehicles.

"The last car in the convoy was hit, in which five people were were injured, three of them seriously," he said.

Karachi, a port city of 14 million people on the Arabian Sea, has been bombarded by a wave of violence over the past month.

Two suicide attacks on Shiite mosques, a double car bomb attack near the US consul general's residence, a parcel bomb, the assassination of a Sunni cleric and three days of riots left 51 people dead.

WAR.WIRE