The deaths led to nearly 10 hours of street clashes between police and Christian and Muslim demonstrators in Faisalabad, a city in Punjab province and the third largest city in Pakistan.

About a dozen people were injured in the clashes, which included shop windows destroyed, bricks and bottles thrown and burning-tire road blocks. No deaths were reported.

The Rev. Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his brother and graduate student Sajid Emmanuel, 26, were entering the court building at noon to attend their trial for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed when unidentified gunmen opened fire.

A brother-in-law said he heard three gunshots after handing soft drinks to the Emmanuels.

A policeman escorting the men was critically wounded and the gunmen escaped.

Naveed Walter, president of Human Rights Focus, based in Faisalabad, said the gunmen didn't even wait for the court to hand down a verdict on whether the Emmanuels were guilty of writing and distributing the allegedly blasphemous pamphlets.

Walter also blamed the police for "inadequate" security.

"The security staff at the gate of the sessions court usually confiscate knives and nail-cutters. I fail to comprehend how killers managed to take weapons inside the court premises," he said.

The killings were condemned by the country's Human Rights Commission, which has said there is a link between violence against Christians and the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.

"The killing of Sajid and Rashid Emmanuel who were in police custody on blasphemy charges on the court premises and the escape of the attackers is scandalous to say the least. It is also a sad reflection on the state's obligation to protect the lives of all citizens," an Human Rights Commission statement said.

The brothers were arrested after shopkeeper Khurram Shehzad alleged that one of his employees was given a pamphlet containing disrespectful remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.

It is alleged that the brothers' signatures, addresses and cellphone numbers were on the pamphlets but the brothers denied they had anything to do with the material.

Atif Jameel, spokesman for the Pakistan Minorities Democratic Foundation, said it was "a conspiracy against peace and religious harmony" in Faisalabad. "No one in his right mind would issue a derogatory pamphlet against the prophet and put his name and address on it."

Christians make up less than 2 percent Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million people.

Faisalabad is home to one of the Pakistan's largest Christian communities, around 100,000 of them living in the Waris Pura slum. Earlier this month thousands of Muslim demonstrators marched through Waris Pura demanding the brothers receive the death penalty.

Police are on alert this week after the bodies were returned to the families and a funeral will be planned. Their fear is that further demonstrations could lead to a similar tragic situation as the 2009 riots in the Punjabi city of Gojra where eight Christians, including four women and a child, were burned alive in a mob attack.

earlier related report
Afghanistan will be US's new Vietnam: Iran speaker
Geneva (AFP) July 21, 2010 - Afghanistan will become a new Vietnam for the United States as it was repeating the same mistakes made in Indochina, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in an interview telecast on Wednesday.

"The Americans will have the same success in Afghanistan as in Vietnam," he told French-language Swiss television, a day after an international donors' conference in Kabul.

"Years ago the Soviet Union made exactly the same mistake. Many many people were killed and it finally pulled out," he said. "History repeats itself. We know Afghanistan. We know that Afghanistan will never submit to foreign armies."

Also on Wednesday a senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards warned that the United States and General David Petraeus, who took over command of 140,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan on July 4, would be engulfed by "terror" in Afghanistan.

"The presence of Petraeus in Afghanistan will increase terrorism and seal the expansion of American failures" in the war-ravaged country, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri was quoted as saying on the website of the Guards.

Petraeus faces a tough task to bring peace to the nation and secure a face-saving exit for allied troops fighting an increasingly deadly insurgency by the Taliban Islamists.

Jazayeri's remarks came a day after Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that a US-led surge of troops into Afghanistan had failed to bring stability or defeat the Taliban.

Washington has in the past accused Tehran of providing low-level help to some militants in Afghanistan, but the former US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, said in May that most of Tehran's role was legitimate.

Larijani, who was in Geneva for a meeting of parliament speakers organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organisation of parliaments, also slammed UN Security Council sanctions designed to stop Tehran's capacity to finance its nuclear programme and deepen its isolation.

He said Iran would take counteraction if Iranian ships or planes were searched.

"If an Iranian plane or ship is inspected by another country, it can expect counteraction or similar measures against it," he said.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News