Iran Condemns Terrorist Attack on Pakistan's Church

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, which killed at least 8 people and injured 20 others.

News ID: 435409

Date: 18 December 2017 - 18:45

RNA - "It was a cruel and blind act against innocent people," Qassemi said.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman sympathized with the bereaved families of the victims of the terrorist attack.

"The remaining of defeated Takfiri-Zionist terrorists (ISIL) who have been supported by some regional and foreign countries are now scattered around the region killing innocent people with any religion and ideology,” he said.

Qassemi said that they are trying to create terror among nations by launching blind, aimless and sporadic attacks in their post-defeat phase.

"Despite the fact that the biggest terrorist group in the world was annihilated by the regional countries’ firm determination, their remnants spare no effort in keeping alive the terrorist ideology to create chaos in the region and the world," the foreign ministry spokesman said.

A militant attack on a church in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta left nine people dead and more than 40 others wounded.

Local sources said the gun and bomb attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church on Quetta’s Zarghoon Road took place on Sunday afternoon.

All casualties were shifted to Civil Hospital in Quetta, where medics said they had initially received four bodies and around 20 injured, including women and children.

Three of the injured passed away while undergoing treatment for their injuries, according to local sources.

Sarfaraz Bugti, the home minister for Baluchistan Province, where Quetta is located, said the attack had been launched by four individuals, but the police chief spoke of only two in his briefing.

One attacker was killed at the entrance to the church while the other set off his explosive payload inside the building, where hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church ahead of Christmas, Bugti said.

Security guards at the church exchanged fire with the attackers before they could enter the main perimeter, said provincial police chief Moazzam Jah.

Jah said the church had guards because Christian places of worship are often targeted by militant extremist groups.

A few hours after the attack, the ISIL terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement carried by the group's Amaq news agency.

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