Grenade kills 3 school raid suspects

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Gunmen who raided a church school in Pakistan while three New Zealanders huddled inside are thought to have blown themselves up.

Five other men have been arrested. One is a suspected member of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group al Qaeda.

Six people were shot dead when the gunmen attacked the Murree Christian School, north of Islamabad.

New Zealanders David Cooper, 15, and his sisters Aimee, 17, and Nadia, 12, had just returned to class when the first gunshots rang out. They huddled in their classroom as the battle raged outside.

The Cooper family are debating whether to come home. A New Zealander who was to teach at the school next year has backed out. He said he feared for his family.

The Murree school's director, Russell Morton, told the Herald there were four gunmen acting in pairs. But reports from Pakistan yesterday suggested there were just three men.

The reports said police officers searched three men at a checkpoint in Khabadar village on Tuesday - the day after the attack - and found a hand grenade. The men were freed when they threatened to blow up themselves and the policemen.

They then headed to a nearby river and detonated at least one grenade. One body was found. Two others were seen floating down the river.

Khabadar is close to where the school attack took place.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said five further people had been arrested.

"None of the arrested persons are Arab nationals. However, one of them is a suspected Al Qaeda member," an official was quoted as saying.

Paul and Belinda Cooper and their children are in Pakistan with the backing of the NZ Christian Missionary Society. Executive officer Michael Lawrence said he was still waiting to hear whether the family would come home.

A New Zealander who was to go to Murree in January told the society he no longer wanted to go. The man had a wife and two young children. He said Christians were targets.

NZ Eurasian Society president Gene Leckey, who lived in Murree for 10 years, said most Pakistanis were tolerant of Christianity. He said the attacks were probably made by "a few lunatics" trying to destabilise the Government.