U.S. Consulate Official Escapes Pakistan Attack

[Teacher Mark 53]

By JANE PERLEZ

Published: August 26, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen fired at the chief American diplomat in the northern city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning as her armored car was leaving her residence to take her to the United States Consulate, the police said.

The diplomat, Lynne Tracy, the principal officer at the consulate, was unharmed. The car, which had barely left the residence grounds when the shots were fired, immediately returned to the house, the police said.

The shooting came as Peshawar, one of Pakistan’s biggest cities, is increasingly threatened by the Taliban, who virtually control the nearby tribal areas. Ms. Tracy regularly leaves her home about 8 a.m. for the office, and it appears the gunmen knew her routine, a Western official said.

In a statement, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Islamabad, Lou Fintor, said: “There was a security incident in Peshawar this morning involving a U.S. consulate vehicle.” The statement said three employees were in the car.

Ms. Tracy lives in an area called University Town, which is considered one of the safest in Peshawar. It is an area of substantial homes guarded by security men and high walls. The consulate is about a mile away.

About 30 Americans are attached to the consulate. They work on aid programs, drug control and in military liaison with the Pakistani military.

A current focus of the consulate is a $750 million program intended to provide economic development to counter the influence of the Taliban in the tribal areas nearby. A number of Americans who work on that aid program but who are not officially employees of the consulate live in the city.

Since Pakistan joined the Bush administration in the campaign against terrorism after 9/11, American diplomats have worked under strict security conditions, and are advised not to travel outside the major cities.

Two Americans were killed in 2002, when gunmen attacked a Protestant church inside the diplomatic enclave, a relatively secure area, in Islamabad. In 2006, an American diplomat at the consulate in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, was killed.

In the last year, suicide bombers have attacked Pakistani military targets in Peshawar. Last week, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who struck a bus carrying Pakistani Air Force personnel, killing 14 people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/world/as....html?ref=world

[Niels Bohr 72]

It's a crazy world out there. I'm glad she's okay.