President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stands erect and unsmiling, sports a helmet of implausibly jet-black hair and wears a long dress-coat, studded with medals.
The triggerman was apprehended almost immediately. He was identified as Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish terrorist. Agca had publicly vowed to kill the pope during the potiff's 1979 visit to Turkey.
A local resident, Sher Ali, said the tribesmen in the Angor Adda area had been on alert since September 3 when US special forces dropped by US helicopters killed more than 20 civilians.