Aussies asked to return

Australia on Tuesday urged its citizens living in Pakistan to consider leaving after six people were killed in an attack on a school for children of foreign missionaries.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the attack on the Murree Christian School, in a hill town northeast of Islamabad, was a deliberate act against foreigners.

Six Pakistanis were killed and at least three people, including a Filipino, were wounded on Monday when masked gunmen burst into the school and opened fire.

While none of the 146 children of missionaries from countries including Australia, the US, Britain, Canada, Germany and New Zealand was hurt, the attack further frayed nerves in a foreign community reeling from a spate of attacks.