Christian school attacked in Pakistan
At least three masked men burst into Murree Christian School in Pakistan this morning, killing two security guards, a cook, a carpenter, a receptionist, and another person. Miraculously, none of the 146 missionary children attending the school were harmed, Reuters reports. The children had just returned to classes after a morning recess when the gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles, began shooting the school guards. "The assailants fired indiscriminately into a largely deserted boarding hostel, after ignoring elementary and secondary school buildings where children from six to 18 were in class," Reuters says.

One missionary from the Philippines was injured in the attack.

CNN says as many as five attackers were spotted, and the Associated Press puts the number at four.

"This is a disaster for the foreign missionary community," school director Russell Morton told the news agency. "They wanted to hit at the missionary community. What better way than to hit at their kids?"

All three attackers reportedly escaped unharmed, but their motivation remains a mystery. Did they intend not to harm the children? Some parents are blaming militant Muslims, but if the attackers were religiously motivated, they failed—of the dead, only two were Christians. Morton told Reuters that he thinks it was a terrorist attack in the literal sense—it was intended more to scare than to harm. "It is my opinion that this attack was designed to cause trouble for the Pakistan authorities," Morton said.

An unnamed police officer told the Associated Press a note was found near a guard post where the shooting began, expressing "resentment against the actions of a world power."

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