Security raised after insurgents’ attack on church
QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces were on high alert across the country on Monday after an Islamic State suicide attack on a church killed nine people, officials said.
The assault on Sunday in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, also wounded about 60 worshipers. It was the first attack on a church claimed by the Islamic State affiliate in Pakistan.
A group funeral was held on Monday after a service by Bishop Sadiq Daniel at Quetta’s Christian cemetery. Ministers, government officials and members of civil society groups attended the service.
Victor John grieved for his disabled daughter Maryam, 17, who was taken from him by “these terrorists.” His daughter-in-law, Anita Bibi, was also at the church when the attack happened and said she tried to pull Maryam to the floor when the shooting started.
Then there was a loud boom, she recalled, and the hall was filled with smoke. “In a moment, the entire church turned into chaos,” she said.
Commemorations were held across the country. In Lahore, capital of eastern Punjab province, Muslim and Christian leaders took part in joint special prayer services to remember the victims.
Baluchistan’s provincial police chief, Moazzam Ansari, said security forces were trying to find those who orchestrated the attack.
About 400 worshipers were attending the service when two bombers carrying assault rifles stormed the church, triggering a gunbattle in which one assailant was killed by police guards and the other opened fire at worshipers and detonated his explosive vest.
A statement posted on the Islamic State-run Aamaq news agency said two “martyrdom-seeking fighters clad in explosive vests and carrying machine guns and hand grenades attacked the church.”
Islamic State has claimed several attacks in Pakistan in recent years, though Islamabad denies the group’s presence and claims it has no organized network in the country.