Three nurses die in chapel bomb attack

At least three nurses emerging from morning prayers were killed today in a grenade attack on a Christian hospital chapel in Pakistan.

Up to 20 other hospital staff and patients were wounded in the latest round of terrorism.

Police said one terrorist blew himself up in the attack on the missionary hospital, just outside the capital Islamabad and two others were thought to have thrown grenades. Inspector Fatha Khan said: "One was killed and two fled, and the explosives were tied to the body of the one who died."

Clement Bakhshi, an accounts officer at the hospital in the town of Taxila, said: "The nurses were coming out of the chapel at around 7.45am when someone threw explosives."

The Taxila hospital, which receives funds from the Presbyterian Church in the United States and other Christian groups, was founded in 1922 and specialises in treating eye diseases common among poor Pakistanis.

All those killed and wounded were Pakistanis, a hospital official said. Two of the wounded were in serious condition. The nurses killed were all female, as were most of the wounded.

The incident came just four days after six Pakistanis were shot dead in an attack on a Christian missionary school for foreign students in the resort town of Murree.

Officials said that raid appeared to be aimed at the foreign community rather than at a minority faith.

Meanwhile, al Qaeda forces have regrouped and set up two bases inside Pakistan, from which to launch a " massive" strike against the Afghan government, Afghan military chiefs say.

The terrorist leaders are also said to be trying to obtain surface-to-air missiles from China to defend themselves against US air power. China is believed to be supporting the new bases.

Intelligence sources say that most of the top Taliban and al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden, have been seen moving into northern Pakistan from just south of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

Brigadier Rahmatullah Rawand, of the Afghan ministry of defence, said: "Al Qaeda has regrouped and they are just waiting for the command to start operations."