At least 19 Christians killed and 40 injured by Suicide bombings in area of Pakistani city.
Suicide bombers attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, setting off two blasts that killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, officials said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadly attack and warned of more to come.
The explosions, which struck the Nishtar Colony area in the city of Lahore, wounded at least 78 people, said Dr. Muhammed Saeed Sohbin, medical superintendent at Lahore General Hospital.
The last major attack on Pakistan’s Christian community took place in 2013, when suicide bombers struck a church in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 people.
More recently, a Christian couple was burned to death in November by mob that accused them of blasphemy.
“The Christian community is a soft target for militant outfits in Pakistan,” said Rabia Mehmood, a researcher at the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani think tank. “But generally Christians and other religious minorities are under a constant threat by the extremist elements in the society and rampant religious intolerance.”
Other minorities in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation have also been targeted this year. Last month, an attack on a Shiite mosque in Peshawar killed at least 19 worshipers and injured dozens of others. The Pakistani Taliban reportedly claimed responsibility for that attack, too.