PESHAWAR: More or less 75 people lost their lives in two consecutive suicide bomb blasts in Peshawar near Qissa Khwani Bazaar.
According to the sources suicide bombers went towards Kohati gate where they blew up near of Church. The area was cordoned off by the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) after the blast incident occurred. Sources claim that at least 75 people have been killed whereas more than 130 people are injured in twin blasts near the church more causality feared.
According to the eyewitness the blast occurred after the people were coming back and more or less 500 people were present when the incident happened. Political and social personalities condemned the blast. Chief Minister KPK immediately rushed to Peshawar leaving Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting in Islamabad behind.
A rescue worker of Alkhidmat foundation told TheNewsTribe that Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital have 61 dead bodies at the moment while more than 110 are wounded.
Pages of a Bible were scattered near the altar and rice meals mingled with dust on the floor amid shattered benches. Walls were gouged with ball bearings used in the explosives, he said.
Pakistan’s small and largely impoverished Christian community sometime suffers discrimination in overwhelmingly Muslim-majority Pakistan but bombings against them are extremely rare.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a deeply conservative province bordering the tribal districts along the Afghan frontier, which are considered home to Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants after 9/11 attacks in US.
Provincial lawmaker Ghauri said there were about 200,000 Christians in the province, of whom 70,000 lived in Peshawar.
“Now after this attack Christians across Pakistan will fear for their lives,” he warned.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the bombings.
“Terrorists have no religion and targeting innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and all religions,” he said in a statement.
Sahibzada Anees, one of Peshawar’s most senior officials, told reporters the bombers struck when the service had just ended.
“Most of the wounded are in critical condition,” Anees said.
“We are in an area which is a target of terrorism and within that area there was a special security arrangement for the church. We are in a rescue phase and once it is over we will investigate what went wrong.”
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