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U.S. staff pack to leave Pakistan

Hospital staff transport a casket containing the body of one of two Americans killed in a church attack Sunday in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Families of U.S. diplomatic personnel and nonessential workers are packing up to leave Pakistan, after being ordered home by the U.S. State Department.

Citing threats against American interests, the order for U.S. staff to leave on Friday came less than a week after an attack on a church that killed five people, including two Americans.

Other Americans in the country were also encouraged to consider leaving in the second such action since the September 11 attacks on America.

The U.S. embassy in Islamabad and consulates elsewhere in Pakistan were closed to the public on Friday and will be shut on Monday.

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An embassy spokesman in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Mark Wentworth, would not say how many people were leaving or discuss details of the evacuation, although he told The Associated Press the process had started.

Threats discerned from "ongoing intelligence" in and out of Pakistan prompted a "heightened level of concern" and Friday's decision, a senior State Department official told CNN.

Grenade attack

Five people, including the wife and daughter of a U.S. diplomat, died in a grenade attack Sunday on a church near the U.S. Embassy. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in January and later killed by his captors.

White House officials and Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, have said these incidents are likely in reaction to his decision to support the U.S.-led war against terrorism. Recent threats are coming from Islamic fundamentalists, U.S. officials said.

While the threats were "not specific to time or date," the official said "an accumulation of intelligence ... makes you feel it's more than random."

"There's a full monty of people out there" that might endanger Americans, said the official.

Secretary of State Colin Powell called Musharraf on Friday to explain the U.S. decision and to stress the move did not reflect a lack of U.S. confidence in the Pakistani leader.

'About face'

Chamberlain

The recommendation to remove non-essential U.S. personnel from Pakistan came days after U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain decided such a move was unnecessary.

Following the grenade attack, Chamberlain approved "authorized" departures -- allowing state employees and their families to leave Pakistan temporarily at the U.S. government's expense.

The State Department had issued a similar policy in effect from September 18, 2001, through January 29, 2002, for non-essential U.S. employees and their dependents in Pakistan, Yemen, Turkmenistan and Indonesia. Officials estimate 500 people chose to leave their posts.

U.S. officials made an "about face" this week after few people responded to Chamberlain's latest directive, according to a senior State Department official.

The return of employees and their dependents in recent months and the deployment of an unspecified number of "temporary duty officers" to U.S. missions since the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan began has raised America's profile in Pakistan, officials said.

Islamabad was "more peaceful" for Americans, but the security situation in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi was "far more dangerous," the senior State Department official said. Pearl was abducted in Karachi, where American officials usually travel with armed guards.

Sunday's attack on a church could signal a shift in tactics, officials said. Now that security at official U.S. facilities has increased, officials expressed concern that terrorists may attack other places frequented by Americans, such as clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools and outdoor recreation events.

-- CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott contributed to this report.