Pak church blasts kill 15, suspects lynched

Mourners around the body of a blast victim in Lahore. (AFP) 

TT, Lahore, March 15 (Agencies): At least 15 persons were killed and over 80 injured when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked two packed churches during the Sunday mass in Pakistan's biggest Christian colony.

A man rigged with explosives blew himself up outside the main gate of St. John's Catholic Church in Youhanabad area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, after being prevented from entering by a security guard.

A second blast went off minutes later in the compound of Christ Church, about half a mile away.

The strikes, one of the worst attacks on the minority community, later triggered mob violence in which two persons suspected of being accomplices in the bombings were lynched and then set ablaze.

The usual Sunday mass was underway 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)," a Christian leader of the locality, Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra, said.

The attacks were claimed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The same group had claimed responsibility for 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 of health Zahid Pervaiz told reporters outside the Lahore General Hospital.

Punjab government spokesperson Zaeem Qadri said: "Five policemen were deployed outside the two churches. Two of them lost their lives while the other three are in a critical condition. Their sacrifice has saved the lives of a number of people."

Soon after the incident, a violent mob lynched two persons suspected of being accomplices in the bombings. After beating them severely, the mob tied them with a rope and set them on fire. Their charred remains were later found at the site.

"We did not stop the enraged mob as there could have been a clash between the police and the mob," deputy inspector general (DIG) Lahore Haider Ashraf said.

After the attack, protesters took to the streets and blocked many roads in the city. They also damaged public property.

Around one million people, mostly Christians, live in Youhanabad, the country's biggest Christian locality. The area houses over 150 churches.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and called it a cowardly act.

Pope 'pain'

Pope Francis said he felt great pain over bomb attacks outside the churches in Pakistan, departing from scripted remarks in his customary address to decry "persecution" of Christians.

"These are Christian churches. Christians are persecuted, our brothers spill their blood simply because they are Christians," the pontiff said after his Angelus address at St. Peter's Square.