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Suspects in Murree Christian School attack reportedly confess, then commit suicide when trapped
"This is just a beginning of revenge [for] atrocities U.S. (is) committing in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Palestine, and we will continue attacking," said a note left by the men who attacked Murree Christian School Monday, killing six Pakistanis.

If it happens, it won't come from the three men who carried out the attack—they killed themselves on the bank of Jhelum River, near the town of Khapadar, about 25 miles from the school.

"Alarmed in the wake of Monday's terrorist attack in their neighboring area, residents of the village asked the suspects to identify themselves," reports the Pakistan newspaper Dawn. "But, they added, instead of doing so, the suspects ran towards the river and went several feet inside the water where they positioned themselves on a rock. … The suspects, speaking Urdu, had earlier been asking the villagers to let them go towards Muzaffarabad. But as the police arrived, they got panicky and suddenly took out hand-grenades from their pockets and blew themselves up."

Other news outlets offer more details. The New York Times quotes deputy police inspector Tariq Qayuum. According to the inspector, as one of the suspects took out the grenade, he said, "If you don't let us go, not only we will die but we will take your lives as well."

The Associated Press, meanwhile, quotes regional police commander Moravet Shah, who suggests the suspects were somewhat less threatening—and says they confessed to the attack on the school. "We have no enmity with Muslims," Shah quotes them as saying. "Our targets are only Americans and nonbelievers." (One wonders if anyone told them that among the six dead after the attack, four were Muslims.)

The attackers, who called themselves Al-Intiqami Al-Pakistani (Revenge of the People of Pakistan—though The New York Times says "it was unclear whether the reference was the proper name of a previously unknown group, or simply a statement about revenge on behalf of Pakistanis"), said "there are other groups who plan to carry out similar attacks on Americans and you will soon hear about it," according to Shah.

Some time apparently passed between the arrival of the police and the suicides. The suspects, said to be in their 20s or 30s, had time to huddle together on the rock, then place the grenades under their feet. It was a shrewd move: the grenades sent the three men flying into the air—two men disappeared into the Jhelum and weren't seen again despite a major search. A third landed on the riverbank, and police used his body to identify him as one of the school attackers.

Meanwhile, Murree Christian School principal Russell Morton says the school will reopen in two weeks with new security measures. (At least that's what he apparently told his hometown paper, The Mercury of Tasmania. A school press release says they're still deciding.) "A permanent closure would drastically affect many missionary families from around the country who would have few alternatives for their children's education, perhaps none," he told the paper, also noting that the school is critical for the local economy.

Morton also explains the latest thinking on why the attack happened: "The given wisdom is that it was politically motivated, an attempt to further embarrass the Government by encouraging Westerners to leave."

Since the school is for missionary children from around the world, papers everywhere are offering interviews and details. The New Zealand Herald, for example, reports that many children were scheduled to be outside at the time of the attack, but were not because of rain.

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August (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46