Suicide bombers injure 50 at Advent service.
Pakistani Christian mourners buried their dead on Monday, only a week before the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Worshipers were lining up to take communion on Sunday morning when at least two men, armed and wearing suicide vests, attacked Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in western Pakistan’s provincial captial city Quetta. They left at least 11 dead and more than 50 injured, many in critical condition, unofficial local figures said.
“It was a pleasant morning,” said Sohail Yousuf. “We had sung songs, and children had presented a Christmas program. Pastor Simon Bashir had finished his sermon, and we were moving towards the altar when we started hearing gunfire outside the church.”
Yousef’s 13-year-old daughter Mehak lost her life; her 16-year-old sister Wasiqa is in critical condition after an operation in Quetta’s Combined Military Hospital (CMH).
A manager in an insurance company, Yousef migrated 16 years ago to Quetta from Punjab after his wife, a government schoolteacher, was posted there.
“We bolted all the doors and were praying that God would protect each of us,” he said. “Then a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main door. The explosion shattered the door and injured many inside. When some rushed outside, they were injured by gunfire as the terrorists were on the church lawn. But soon the situation was brought under control by the volunteer church security guards and police present there.”
Caritas executive director Sheezan William told World Watch Monitor that the first person killed was the church security guard George Masih, who tried to stop the men advancing toward the church.
“I came to know what was happening while the exchange of fire ...
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