Pakistan Church Bombing Kills 78

At least 78 people have been killed in northwest Pakistan on Sunday as suicide bombers triggers explosion at end of a church service.

Police said the two attackers struck at the end of a service at All Saints Church in Peshawar, the main town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Authorities said the attack occurred as hundreds of worshipers were coming out of the church in the city’s Kohati Gate district after services to get a free meal of rice offered on the front lawn.

“There were blasts and there was hell for all of us,” said Nazir John, who was at the church with at least 400 other worshippers. “When I got my senses back, I found nothing but smoke, dust, blood and screaming people. I saw severed body parts and blood all around.”

Hospital officials said at least 120 people had been wounded in the attack.

Reports said the white walls of the church, which first opened in the late 1800s, were pockmarked with holes caused by ball bearings and other metal objects contained in the bombs to cause maximum damage.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has condemned the “cruel” attack, saying it violated the tenets of Islam, Al Jazeera.net said.

Reports said Muslim fighters frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including Christians and Shias. Christians make up about four percent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million and tend to keep a low profile in a country where Muslim fighters would bomb target they see as heretical.

In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra in Punjab province. At least seven Christians were burnt to death, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Reports said the attacks were triggered by reports of the desecration of the Quran.

Source: Al Jazeera.net