Protestant Bishop and wife killed in Islamabad

A Protestant Bishop and his wife in Pakistani capital were killed in their home here on Wednesday night, police source said.

Bishop Arif Khan, Pakistan American citizen in his 50s and his American wife Kathleen Khan 45, were found late Wednesday at their home in a residential neighbourhood of Islamabad, said Manzoor Hussain, the local police chief. The wounds in their bodies indicated that they have been shot at from a short distance.

The Police officer said they had arrested the suspected killer and his wife on Thursday, accidentally the couple are also Christians.

The arrested man, Honey Haveed, said during questioning that Khan had an affair with his wife and that he had shot him "for honor," Hussain said.

Police say all three suspects come from the town of Wana in the tribal region of Waziristan near the Afghan border.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Liz Colton said American privacy laws prevented officials from discussing such crimes.

Hussain said Khan was the pastor of a small church set up in a private house in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital. He didn't know the denomination.

Killings in the name of restoring a family's honour after perceived disgraces are common in the country.

Pakistan Christians made up about 1.5% of 161 million (UN 2005) population in an overwhelmingly Muslim majority country, whose state religion is Islam.