Suicide Bombing Attack at Pakistan Church Kills Over 80 People
Published at
BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(PESHAWAR, Pakistan) — A suicide bombing attack at a church in Peshawar, Pakistan during a Sunday morning mass has left 81 people dead and over 100 injured.
The church was filled with families. Women and children are among the dead.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The government in Peshawar, a city close to the Afghan border, has declared three days of mourning.
Pakistan’s Council of Imams has condemned the blast, tweeting, “we stand with our Christian brothers and sisters during this time of grief.”
The attack comes as the new Pakistani government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
Saturday they released the Taliban’s former number two leader, Mullah Baradar, hoping he could bring other militants to agree to a peace deal. There is no indication his release is connected to Sunday’s attack.
Christians are a minority in Pakistan but this year has seen a rise in anti-Christian violence. This spring, a mob torched and looted a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, leaving hundreds of families homeless.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio