ISLAMABAD -- Gunmen shot at a car belonging to the Saudi consulate in Pakistan's largest city on Monday, killing the man who was driving it – a Saudi national who was alone in the vehicle, police said.
The shooting in Karachi came just days after two hand grenades were tossed at the consulate building, exploding but not hurting anyone. Police official Tariq Dhareji said Monday's shooting occurred in the same upscale neighborhood where the consulate is located.
It was not immediately clear if the slain man was a diplomat at the consulate.
The driver "was perhaps going to the consulate from his residence when two gunmen riding on a motorcycle showered the car with bullets," police official Zameer Husain Abbasi said. He said a 9 mm pistol was used in the assault.
The motives for the two attacks were not immediately clear, and there have been no claims of responsibility.
Karachi is a notoriously violent city of 18 million people – a cauldron of ethnic, sectarian and political tensions. The attackers could be motivated for a variety of reasons, including Shiite Muslim extremists taking shots at a deeply conservative and powerful Sunni Muslim state.
But the attacks also follow the May 2 U.S. raid in northwest Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born chief of the Al-Qaida terrorist network.
Saudi Arabia stripped bin Laden of citizenship and has fought al-Qaida, but money from some of its citizens is believed to help bankroll the terrorist network, which was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
The shooting in Karachi came just days after two hand grenades were tossed at the consulate building, exploding but not hurting anyone. Police official Tariq Dhareji said Monday's shooting occurred in the same upscale neighborhood where the consulate is located.
It was not immediately clear if the slain man was a diplomat at the consulate.
The driver "was perhaps going to the consulate from his residence when two gunmen riding on a motorcycle showered the car with bullets," police official Zameer Husain Abbasi said. He said a 9 mm pistol was used in the assault.
The motives for the two attacks were not immediately clear, and there have been no claims of responsibility.
Karachi is a notoriously violent city of 18 million people – a cauldron of ethnic, sectarian and political tensions. The attackers could be motivated for a variety of reasons, including Shiite Muslim extremists taking shots at a deeply conservative and powerful Sunni Muslim state.
But the attacks also follow the May 2 U.S. raid in northwest Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born chief of the Al-Qaida terrorist network.
Saudi Arabia stripped bin Laden of citizenship and has fought al-Qaida, but money from some of its citizens is believed to help bankroll the terrorist network, which was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
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