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Under immense pressure from the US to improve the security situation, the Musharraf regime in Pakistan on Tuesday suspended four senior police officials, including the inspector general of police, for security lapses leading to the terrorist attack on a church in Islamabad even as fresh violence claimed three lives in the city of Lahore.
At a high level meeting, President Pervez Musharraf took the decision to suspend Islamabad's IGP Zahir Ahmed, Senior Superintendent of Police Nasir Khan Durrani, the deputy superintendent of police and the in-charge of the police station overseeing the diplomatic enclave where the attack took place on Sunday.
The meeting, attended by provincial governors, top police and army officials, reviewed the security situation in the wake of stepped up attacks by banned militant groups in the country.
Addressing the meeting, Musharraf underlined the need to pre-empt, prevent, investigate and take swift action against terrorists and to create effective ground mechanisms to ensure safety and security of the people.
Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot dead three persons in Lahore in continued sectarian violence.
According to reports reaching Islamabad, motor-cycle borne gunmen shot down Prof Attaur Rahman, a Sunni Muslim, and his driver as they arrived at an institute in the busy Jain mandir area in Lahore on Tuesday morning.
While fleeing from the scene, the attackers shot dead another person, a Shia Muslim identified as Syed Hassan Raza, who was standing at a nearby bus stand.
Earlier, Musharraf met the visiting chief of the US army's central command Gen Tommy Franks and other senior US officials and discussed the security situation arising out of the attack on the church and his resolve to continue the fight against terrorism.
More reports on Pakistan
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