Potentially hundreds of people have been killed in a suicide bombing attack against an Anglican church in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar.
The pair of bombers, linked to the Taliban, detonated their explosives at the historic All Saints’ Anglican Church. The bombers, reportedly dressed as police, struck while the congregation was having their traditional rice meal in the churchyard after the service. A number of children were among the dead.
Siddique Paul, a church planter working with the Diocese of Sydney in the Georges River Region – and the first legally recognised Pakistani convert to Christianity – says he still has a strong relationship with churches in Pakistan. He himself has visited All Saints’ on four occasions and worked with many of the people there.
“We’re very sad, really,” he says. “We talked to families– we are very much grieved. Last night we spent praying. We will have a meeting with the Pakistani people, and on Friday, we will have a Bible study… We are going to celebrate a day of prayer for the martyrs of Peshawar, as well as Holy Communion.”
He says that while, at the time of writing, the Pakistani Government has placed the official death toll at around 85, the story coming from Christians in Peshawar is that the number of dead is much higher, potentially reaching as many as 200 dead, with a further 120 injured. Keep reading
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