Islamabad: At least nine people were killed and over 44 others seriously injured when a suicide bomber detonated himself inside a church in Pakistan’s Quetta city on Sunday, police said.
Four suicide attackers attacked the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church while a service was on, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told Dawn News.
One of the attackers detonated a suicide vest inside the church premises. Another was shot dead near the entrance by security forces after an intense gunfight, Bugti said. The other two terrorists escaped.
According to Bugti, around 500 people were present in the church during the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State terror organisation on Sunday claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb and gun attack on a Methodist church in Quetta, which killed at least nine people and wounded another 44.
In a statement published via the messaging service Telegram, IS said two of its members launched the attack on the Bethel Memorial Church in Imdad Square in Quetta, where around 400 people were present, Efe news agency reported.
IS added that one of them detonated an explosive belt he was wearing, while the second was killed in a shootout with Pakistani security forces.