Deadly attack on Christians in Pakistan
Christians, the second largest religious minority in Pakistan after Hindus, have been the target of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. The latest attack on a church in Quetta killed at least eight people.
At least eight people were killed and 16 others injured in a suicide attack on a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday (December 17).
According to official sources in Balochistan province, two people wearing suicide vests and armed with automatic weapons attacked a Methodist church, one of whom was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces. The second person, who managed to get inside the church premises, blew himself up after being wounded.
There were 400 people attending a service in the church at the time of the attack. A number of women and children were reportedly among the victims of the attack.
Christians are one of the targets of radical Islamists.
In recent years, Christians, who constitute the second largest religious minority in Pakistan after Hindus, have repeatedly been subjected to bloody attacks by extremist Islamists.
One of the largest such attacks took place in Peshawar in 2013, killing 84 people. An attack on a Christian center in Lahore in 2015 also left 15 victims.
Pakistani media has released footage of gunfire between security forces and terrorists in Sunday's attack. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
In Pakistan's Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, separatist groups, along with extremist Islamists, are also engaged in armed conflict with the central government.
Source: DW
