Islamabad: France has closed down its Consulate in Karachi and asked its staff to return home, two months after a deadly suicide bombing that killed 11 of its technicians working on a submarine project in the port city, media reported on July 24.

The decision followed a French experts' report that the Consulate in the city's high- end Bath Island district was in an "unsafe" location, 'The News' daily reported, quoting reliable sources.

The issuance of visa from the mission has been suspended for an indefinite period. French visas will now be issued from Islamabad.

The French security experts suggested that when the law and order situation of Karachi comes to normality, the Consulate-General should be shifted to a place which was not a common passage or easily accessible by the unconcerned people as well as vehicular traffic, the paper said.

The offices of the French Consul-General and Attaché for Press and Political Affairs were temporarily shifted to the British Consulate General in Karachi, the daily said.

Pakistani staff of the French Consulate was laid off, it said.

Attacks targeting westerners have increased in Pakistan following its support to the US-led War against terrorism.

In June a bomb exploded outside the US Consulate in Karachi killing 14 Pakistanis.

PTI