By Michael Georgy
OGHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants stormed an office of a U.S.-based Christian aid agency in Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six members of staff in a hail of bullets and a bomb.
Nuclear-armed U.S. ally Pakistan is battling al Qaeda-linked militants who have launched a string of attacks over the past few years, including some on foreign targets.
Gunmen burst into the World Vision office in Oghi village in Mansehra district, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Islamabad, at about 9 a.m. (0400 GMT), police and a witness said.
"About 10 men came, they were all wearing masks. They kicked the doors down, took everyone out of their offices, put them in one place and then started shooting," said an office administrator, who asked to be identified only as Asif.
"They threw a bomb as they were leaving," he said.
The office was largely destroyed by the blast, which left a crater by the main door. Bits of broken concrete and glass littered the floor, which was also strewn with wrecked office furniture and equipment.
A door plastered with decorations for a birthday was blown off its hinges. Nearby, a calendar on a glass-strewn desk showed a workshop had been scheduled for Wednesday.
Pools of blood lay under an upturned chair and under a nearby desk. A trail of blood stained a concrete sidewalk at the back of the building.
World Vision said the six dead were Pakistani members of staff and it was suspending all operations in the country.
Seven members of staff were wounded and one was missing, the aid agency said in a statement, adding that its relief and development work in Pakistan was conducted by Pakistanis.
"Those who kill humanitarian workers must be reminded that they are not only killing their own country's residents, but also people seeking to improve the lives of victims of poverty and injustice," it said.
Mansehra town, in North West Frontier Province, has been a hub for relief efforts following an earthquake that killed 73,000 people in October 2005.
The area has been generally peaceful although there have been occasional incidents of violence.
In 2008, gunmen attacked an office of the Plan International aid agency in Mansehra town, killing four Pakistani staff.
SEARCHING
The district is east of the Swat region, where the army launched an offensive a year ago to clear it of Pakistani Taliban. The offensive raised fears at the time the militants might be pushed into Mansehra.
Police exchanged fire with the attackers and were hunting for them, senior police officer Sajid Khan told Reuters by telephone from Mansehra.
"They have fled to nearby forest. Our teams have cordoned off the area and launched a search," he said, adding two women were among the dead.
A passerby, Mohammad Salim, said he saw the gunmen leaving, firing their rifles into the air as they made their escape on foot. Most were wearing military-style green jackets, Salim said.
The United Nations and aid agencies have occasionally been forced to limit their operations and the movement of foreign staff because of security worries but many relief groups are still operating in Pakistan.
Aid workers in the conservative rural Mansehra district have met some hostility, often because of the presence of women members of staff and projects aimed at women. World Vision said it had not received any threats before the attack.
Khan was critical of the aid group's security.
"They have just one guard who didn't have a weapon," he said. (Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony and Kamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Paul Tait)
