MULTAN, Pakistan A police guard at Iran's cultural center here was shot dead and another was critically injured in an attack by unknown assailants Friday, police said. The guards came under fire near the center as they were returning to their station after ending overnight duty, they said. It is a terrorist attack, said a police official in this central Pakistani city.

The Iranian cultural center has an Iranian director living with his family and several Pakistani employees. In February last year the center's Iranian director, Mohammad Ali Rahimi, was killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen, along with about half a dozen Pakistani employees. Several Iranians, including five Iranian Air Force cadets under training in Pakistan, have been killed in attacks since last year.

(AFP)