Suicide bombers attack Christian church in Pakistan, at least 75 dead
Two explosions outside a crowded church in northwest Pakistan just as Sunday services ended killed at least 75 people and wounded more than 100, authorities said, one of Pakistan’s worst attacks against Christians in years.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Home Secretary Akhtar Ali Shah now said in his latest statement that the official death toll had reached 75.
The dead and injured, including women, children and police officers, overwhelmed the emergency ward of Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, the city’s largest hospital, where television footage showed hallways filled with corpses, badly wounded patients and women and children crying over the charred bodies of relatives.
Many bodies were in such bad shape they could not be easily identified, doctors said.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for Sunday’s attack, but militant Islamist groups active in the area came under suspicion.
Muhammad Ali, Peshawar’s chief of police, told reporters the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers.
“As they were dispersing in groups, a young male [suicide bomber] tried to attack one of the groups,” he said. “A police official on duty attempted to stop him but he blew himself up. The second one was also a suicide blast. We have recovered the head of one of the bombers.”
