School raid suspects 'blow themselves up'

Paramilitary forces search a vehicle in Karachi as Pakistan cracks down on terrorists

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani police say three men who blew themselves up near a checkpoint may have connections with an attack at a Christian school earlier this week.

The attackers barged into the school on Monday armed with assault rifles and killed six people before escaping.

Police at a checkpoint in northern Pakistan stopped three men in a car Tuesday. After fleeing, the men blew themselves up nearby with a grenade.

The attack at the Murree Christian School in the Himalayan foothills came on the same day the U.S. consulate in Karachi was closed due to a security alert.(Full story)

It was the third fatal attack against Christian institutions in Pakistan since October.

Attacks on Western targets have risen since President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism last year, riling Muslims in this South Asian nation.

As many as five attackers were reportedly seen in Monday's attack. One schoolteacher told CNN there might have been as many as four gunmen on foot.

An administrator at the school told Reuters news agency that witnesses saw two men, carrying automatic rifles and their faces covered in black scarves, walk into the compound of the school and open fire indiscriminately.

At least one attacker was seen fleeing on a motorcycle after the shots were fired, according to one eyewitness.

Children safe

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The school, which was founded in 1956 to train children of missionaries in Pakistan and in neighboring countries, was in session at the time of the attack, with about 150 children in classes.

None of the children were killed, according to police, with the school's Web site saying that all students and expatriate staff were safe and being cared for.

The dead men were all Pakistanis and believed to be security guards and staff.

In October 16 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a Protestant congregation in the city of Behawalpur in the populous Punjab province.

In March a grenade attack into a Protestant congregation in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave, killed five people, including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat.

Christians, Hindus and other religions make up about three percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan's 140 million people.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.