Lahore, March 15: At least 15 people, including two policemen, were killed and over 80 injured Sunday when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked two packed churches during the Sunday mass in Pakistan’s biggest Christian colony here in one of the worst attacks on the minority community.
The attackers blew themselves up at the gates of Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church in Youhanabad area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, causing a stampede as panicked worshippers ran to save their lives.
The attacks later triggered mob violence in which two suspected militants were lynched and then set ablaze, resulting in their deaths.
The usual Sunday mass was underway at the churches when the two suicide bombers reached there and tried to break-in.
“When the guards stopped them from entering the churches, they blew themselves up (at the gates),” Christian leader, Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra, said. A large number of Christians were present inside the churches at the time of the twin attacks, he said.
“Today the whole Christian community in Pakistan is devastated and is begging the government to provide it security,” Sahotra said.
The attacks were claimed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The group had claimed responsibility of a suicide attack on the Wagah border in September in which 60 people were killed.
“Fifteen people, including a boy and a girl and two policemen guarding the churches, have been killed and more than 80 wounded in the attack,” director general health Zahid Pervaiz said. PTI