US consulate in Karachi closed for 3nd day
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-13 15:39

The US consulate in the troubled Pakistani city of Karachi remained closed for a second day after receiving a warning that militants planned to attack the building, officials said.

Americans were again warned Wednesday to avoid the area around the consulate, which was hit by a suicide bomb attack in 2002, and the nearby Marriott hotel, US officials and a statement on the consulate's website said.

"Due to continuing security concerns the American Consulate General in Karachi will remain closed on Wednesday, April 13," the statement said.

The United States kept its consulate in the troubled Pakistani city of Karachi closed for a second day after receiving a security threat, an official said.[AFP]

"Security personnel will review the situation later Wednesday to determine if it will reopen," said Greggory Crouch, press attache at the US embassy in Islamabad.

He would not disclose the nature of the threat.

However Pakistani officials said the consulate was first closed on Tuesday after an unknown caller telephoned a police hotline and warned that the heavily-guarded building was under threat.

"Some people have gone to Karachi and will carry out an attack at the consulate," the caller was quoted as saying by an anonymous security official.

Police and other security agencies are trying to trace the caller and from where the call was made, Sindh province home minister Rauf Siddiqui told AFP.

"We are taking the threat seriously until it proves otherwise and are investigating," he said. "It could be an attempt from those who did not want economic activity in Karachi."

In June 2002, 12 Pakistanis died when a suicide car bomb exploded outside the Karachi consulate. In February of the following year a gunman opened fire on the building, killing three policemen.

Last year two successive car bombs near the consul general's residence killed one policeman and injured more than a dozen press photographers.

Police also foiled a potentially devastating attack in March 2004 when they discovered a van packed with powerful chemical explosives parked outside the consulate.

A road leading to the US consul general's residence and the American club remained closed Wednesday. Police reopened another road where consulate, the Marriott and the State Guest House are located, but banned heavy vehicles.

The US embassy in Islamabad and the consulates in Lahore and Peshawar remained open.

US officials and the provincial government have been discussing new venues for the Karachi consulate, which the United States wants to move to a more secure site.

One location proposed by the US, in Karachi's seaside neighbourhood of Clifton, was dropped after protests in February from the nearby residents and social groups who said the place was meant for a park.

Karachi has seen other attacks on US and foreign interests, including the abduction and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in early 2002.

The same year a massive suicide car bomb blast outside the Sheraton hotel killed 11 French engineers.

Most of the attacks were blamed on Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaeda, who oppose military ruler President Pervez Musharraf's close ties with the United States.

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