TTP splinter group claims responsibility; attacks trigger mob violence, 2 lynched to death

At least 15 people were killed and over 80 others injured on Sunday when Taliban bombers attacked two packed churches during the Sunday mass in Pakistan’s biggest Christian colony here, sparking mob fury in which two suspected militants were burned to death.

The bombings occurred during prayers at two churches located around half a kilometre apart in the Youhanabad district of Lahore city that is home to more than 100,000 Christians, officials said.

Christians make up around two percent of Pakistan’s mainly Muslim population of 180 million. They have been targeted in attacks and riots in recent years, often over allegations of profanity regarding the Koran or the Prophet Mohammed.

Sunday’s attack was the worst on the community since a devastating double suicide bombing in the north-western city of Peshawar in 2013 killed 82 people, sparking a fresh wave of anger at the government for failing to offer enough protection.

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 under way 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 of the locality Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra told PTI. He said a large number of Christians were present inside the churches at the time of the twin attacks.

“Today the whole Christian community in Pakistan is devastated and is begging the government to provide it security,” Mr. Sahotra said.

The attacks were claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The same group had claimed the responsibility of a suicide attack on the Wagah border in September last year 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 told reporters outside the Lahore General Hospital.

He said the death toll could rise as some injured were critically wounded.

Lahore police registered two separate cases — one against the attacks on the two churches and the other against the people involved in killing of the two ‘suspects’

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and called it a cowardly act. Dr. Paul Bhatti, Chairman, All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), has condemned the brutal act of terrorism in the two churches and expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives of innocent people.