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Pakistan militants attack U.S. Christian aid group, killing six

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Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan -- Militants stormed the northern Pakistan offices of a U.S. Christian aid group Wednesday, killing six workers and injuring five, police said.

The attack took place in the Mansehra district, where World Vision opened an office to help victims of the 2005 earthquake that killed more than 70,000 people in Pakistan. All of the dead and injured in the assault were Pakistanis.

Villagers in the area said the gunmen came down from a nearby ridge, burst into the charity group’s compound and began spraying gunfire and tossing hand grenades.

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“We heard gunshots and loud explosions from inside the compound,” said Munawar Shah, a villager. “The gunmen had their faces masked. They started firing indiscriminately inside.”

World Vision, which is based near Seattle and has offices in the Los Angeles area, is one of several aid groups that established a presence in Mansehra to help earthquake victims. Area residents say militants in the region view the nongovernmental agencies as intruders intent on spreading Western values among villagers.

In 2008, militants in the area killed four workers with Plan International, a British humanitarian organization. After that attack, several other aid groups closed down their Mansehra offices.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack Wednesday, but Mansehra is just east of Buner, one of the districts the Taliban fighters had infiltrated before a major offensive by the Pakistani military last summer drove them out.

Although Mansehra has been a relatively quiet section of northern Pakistan, the militant attack was the second to hit the region in recent weeks. In February, suicide bombers attacked two police stations, killing a police chief and injuring several officers.

alex.rodriguez

@latimes.com

Ali is a special correspondent.

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