Top US diplomat escapes gun attack in Pakistan

by Dave Keating | August 26, 2008 at 01:31 am

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The top US doplomat in Pakistan narrowly escaped an ambush this morning, at the same tiem that a bomb exploded at a political rally in the Southwest of the country. Violence in Pakistan is increasing as that country looks to replace outgoing president Pervez Musharraf.

Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the top U.S. diplomat in the main city in Pakistan's volatile northwest Tuesday morning, but no one was killed or wounded, officials said.

Meanwhile, a bomb exploded at a political rally in southwestern Pakistan, wounding at least 20 people, police said.

The attack in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, came a day after the government announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban, the umbrella militant group said to be behind a recent string of suicide bombings and other assaults.

It also came hours after the ruling coalition collapsed, a fracture that could strengthen a party considered more in line with U.S. goals in the war on terror.

Lynne Tracy, the principal officer for the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, was "100 percent safe," police official Riaz Khan said.

Mohammad Nabi, another police official, said an unknown number of gunmen in a Land Cruiser fired from an open window before fleeing the scene. He said the driver managed to reverse the vehicle and reach the residence of the U.S. official.