TWO suicide bombers attacked a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing nine people and wounding more than 50 others.
Daesh has claimed it carried out the attack.
Hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church in the south-west Baluchistan province ahead of Christmas. He said the attackers clashed with security forces, with one assailant killed at the entrance while the other made it inside.
Baluchistan police chief Moazzam Ansari praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building. “Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher,” he said.
Quetta police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said a search is under way for two suspected accomplices who escaped.
Local television showed ambulances and security patrols racing to the scene while women and children were being led out of the church’s main gate.
Hospital officials said two women were among the dead while another five women and two children were among the wounded.
Dozens of Christians gathered outside a nearby hospital to protest the lack of security.
Pakistan’s president, Mamnoon Hussain, and other senior officials have condemned the attack.
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