Pakistan church attack nurse dies

Christian institutions have been targeted in Pakistan

A nurse who was critically injured in a grenade attack on a hospital church in Pakistan on Friday has died of her injuries.

Her death brings to four the number of nurses killed in the assault on the chapel in the town of Taxila to four.

Four nurses died in the attack on the chapel

More than 20 missionary staff were wounded by the blasts, two of whom remain in a serious condition.

Authorities believe Islamic militants opposed to Pakistan's support for the US-led war on terror carried out the attack.

On Saturday, Pakistani police expressed optimism about arresting two of the attackers who had escaped.

A third attacker was found dead at the scene, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the capital, Islamabad.

The attack came four days after six Pakistanis were killed in a gun attack on a Protestant missionary school in the Pakistani town of Murree, about 40km (25 miles) north-east of the capital.

Attacker identified

The nurse who died on Sunday was identified as 28-year-old Parveen Nelson.

The husband of another wounded nurse said doctors had told him there was no hope his wife would survive.

Security has been stepped up around soft targets

Police have identified the dead assailant as Kamran Mir, from the nearby district of Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi police chief Marwat Shah said the attacker was a member of a "banned religious faction".

A military spokesman told French news agency AFP there was evidence the Taxila and Murree attacks were linked.

Police said they were searching for up to 20 militants involved in planning attacks on western targets.

Security forces have arrested members of outlawed groups in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir suspected of training extremists, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Karachi trial

A judge on Saturday postponed until next week the trial of three Islamic militants charged with the bombing of the US consulate in Karachi.

The Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi also postponed the simultaneously scheduled trial of the militants on charges of plotting to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Both hearings will resume next week.

The three charged in both cases were Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif and Mohammed Ashraf.

Mr Imran is identified as the leader of the Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi extremist group and the other two as group officers.

Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, a splinter group of Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen, is believed to have worked closely with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan before the collapse of the Taleban Government.