Japanese consul car attacked by Pakistan gang

Gunmen on a motorcycle fired on a Japanese consular car in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, yesterday, wounding two local employees and underscoring the fragile security in the country.

Islamist militants have targeted foreigners in Pakistan before, but police said the attack may have been an attempted robbery. Violence linked to criminal gangs, political and ethnic rivalries and Muslim extremists is common in the city.

Elsewhere in the country, an American missile strike killed seven suspected militants close to the Afghan border, the latest in a surge of such attacks.

The shooting in Karachi happened soon after the three Pakistanis in the car had stopped by a bank to get cash, police said. The two wounded men were in stable condition.

Kazuwhiro Kawase, a spokesman at Japan's foreign ministry, said no Japanese diplomats were in the vehicle. Police in Karachi said the car's licence plates showed it belonged to the Japanese consulate.

Japan and Pakistan have good relations, and Tokyo has been generous in providing aid.