9 worshippers killed in Pakistan church attack
At least nine Christian worshippers were killed and 50 wounded when two suicide bombers attacked a church in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta on Sunday, a local hospital spokesman said. The Islamic State, which has a presence along the PakistanAfghanistan border, quickly claimed responsibility.
One attacker detonated an explosives-laden vest at an entrance to the church’s main hall. A second attacker’s vest failed to detonate, and he was killed by security forces, according to police and government officials. Nearly 400 worshippers were gathered inside Bethel Memorial Methodist Church for early morning prayers. Photos from the scene showed debris and pools of blood near the pulpit, which was decorated with a Christmas tree.
Moazzam Jah Ansari, a provincial police chief, told reporters that the area around the church had been secured. The Associated Press quoted Quetta’s police chief, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, saying that “a search was underway for two suspected accomplices who escaped.”
Christians make up around 2 percent of Pakistan’s population. Sunday’s attack raises urgent questions about their safety and that of other religious minority groups going into a season of festive gatherings. Over the past several years, extremist groups have made several attacks on churches, including a twin suicide bombing in Peshawar in September 2013 that killed 85.
The Islamic State’s regional affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan, has claimed other attacks in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, mostly targeting Shia Muslims, but this is the first time it has taken responsibility for attacking a church. Last August, it claimed an attack that killed 60 lawyers in Quetta, devastating the city’s law community.