Gunmen execute seven at charity in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Armed assailants tied up Christian charity workers, taped their victims' mouths closed and shot them execution-style Wednesday, a bullet each to the head.

The attack killed seven people in the southern port city of Karachi -- and shattered hopes that a sweeping crackdown on Islamic militants had broken the back of violent groups targeting foreigners and Pakistan's Christian minority.

One person was critically wounded in the attack on the third-floor office of the Institute for Peace and Justice, a Pakistani Christian charity. The victims, all Pakistani Christians, were bound to chairs with their hands behind their backs before being shot point-blank in the head, authorities said.