—President, PM, COAS and leaders of the political, religious parities condemn attack
F.P. Report
QUETTA: At least nine people including women were killed and more than 50 others where terrorists attacked Bethel Memorial Church in the provincial capital on Sunday. Two attackers stated to be suicide bombers were also killed in the attack while two others managed to flee.
President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, provincial chief ministers, leaders of various political and religious parties strongly condemned the terrorist attack and termed it attempt to sabotage interfaith harmony.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti said that two suicide bombers stormed the Bethel Memorial Church at Zarghon road of Quetta, one of whom was shot dead at the entrance while other suicide bomber when injured by the security personnel blew himself up outside the church hall.
Sarfraz Bugti said that the terrorists had weapons and it seems they wanted to take hostages inside the church. The police and FC guards present stopped this from happening, said Bugti.
The Home Minister that law-enforcement agencies took 16 minutes to complete the operation which was led by CCPO, DC Quetta and IGP Balochistan. An eye witness said, “The terrorists were not able to enter the church. I saw glass breaking and people being shot.”
According to Quetta DIG Abdul Razzaq Cheema two terrorists were on the run after the attack and a search operation was under way.
According to officials, the two suicide bombers were between the ages of 16 and 20. The suicide jacket which was defused contained 15 kilogrammes of explosive material.
Balochistan Inspector General Police (IGP) Moazzam Ansari confirmed to media that 400 people were present inside the church at the time of the attack and a major tragedy was avoided due to the quick response of security forces.
“The suicide bombers were unable to enter the main building of the church. If they were able to do this and we did not have security deployed to neutralise them, they would have caused a lot of damage,” said Ansari. “Security forces have cleared the church.”
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has ordered a report pertaining to the attack from IGP Balochistan.
The church had organized different programmes all throughout December to mark Christmas, according to its Facebook page and was holding a ‘Sunday School Christmas Programme’ at the time of the attack.
Later in the day, Commander Southern Command Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa arrived at the Civil Hospital.
The Commander was accompanied by Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Nadeem Anjum and other officials.
Lt Gen Saleem Bajwa and Major Gen Anjum visited the hospital’s trauma centre and met with the victims of the attack.
Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa, provincial chief minister, leaders of various political and religious parties have strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Bethel Memorial Church. They condoled with the bereaved families, prayed for early recovery of the injured. They termed the attack as attempt to sabotage interfaith harmony.
