PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A U.S. diplomat narrowly escaped an attempt on her life Tuesday when two men with AK-47s jumped in front of her armored vehicle and sprayed it with bullets, staging a brazen attack that raised fears other foreigners could be targeted.
The attack — which the driver eluded by jamming the vehicle into reverse and speeding away — came hours after the collapse of the governing coalition that drove Pervez Musharraf from the presidency.
Late Tuesday, an explosion at a cafe on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad, killed at least seven people, police said. The cause was under investigation, but the damage indicated a bomb, an official said.
Lynne Tracy, an Ohio native who heads the U.S. consulate in northwestern Pakistan, left her home in Peshawar with a bodyguard provided by the local anti-terrorism squad about 8 a.m., police chief Arshad Khan said. Moments later, the vehicle came under heavy gunfire, Khan said.
He said no one was hit by bullets, but one man was hospitalized after his three-wheeled taxi was hit by the consulate vehicle during its rapid retreat.
Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family. Attacks on Western targets occur, but targeting diplomats is relatively unusual.
Talat Masood, a political and military analyst, said that could start to change.
“I think (foreign diplomats) have to be very careful,” he said, especially as Pakistan’s army intensifies its offensive in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan. “They should take a low profile; their movements should be restricted during this period.”
Masood cautioned against Western nations’ scaling back their presence, however, saying that would further embolden militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and demoralize Pakistanis.
