KABUL’s Punjab province, on Sunday.
Pakistani media quoted rescuers as saying the blasts happened when a ceremony was underway the church. The explosions prompted a stampede as panicked worshipers ran for exits.
Geo News reported the dead and injured were taken to the Lahore General Hospital. The attack occurred in Youhanabad area — the country’s biggest Christian locality, housing a million people.
As enraged Chriatians took to the streets, hospital sources put the number of fatlities at 14 and the wounded at 68. City health facilities made appeals for blood donations.
Initial reports suggested two suicide bombers carried out the attack, according to DawnNews, which said two suspects had been arrested from near the blast site. A young man, allegedly involved in the attack, was beaten to death.
After being stopped, the suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance to the church. The condition of several wounded people is said to critical.
A Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTO) splinter group, Jamaatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the assault, which angered the people to lynch two men, suspected of involvement in the bombings.
Former law minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that toll, saying the dead included six members of the Christian community and policemen. Some of the wounded were struggling for life.
A local leader of the Christian community told reporters both blasts took place at the entrance to the churches. “Had the attackers managed to enter the churches, the casualty figures would have been higher.”
In 2013, twin suicide attacks were carried out at the All Saint’s Church in Peshawar’s Kohati Gate neighbourhood, killing 80 members of the minority sect and wounding over 100 others
PAN Monitor/mud
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