It is sorely painful to report such an incidence when our brothers and sisters suffer in great number and their sufferings are high. Today, every eye is crying at the loss of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even the little children had to suffer at the hands of terrorists, but as a Nation, we are not terrified. We are strong in Him, we find power and strength when our brothers and sisters stood beside us, when the whole body of Christ feels the pain and pray for us.
The suicide bombers attacked the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church located on the main Zarghoon Road, in Quetta, Balochistan. This province of Pakistan have suffered about 242 deaths this year 2017 by terrorist attacks.
The Church was full with about 400 people, whereas the Children were also presenting Christmas Carols and plays. Poor Children were celebrating the 3rd Advent Sunday Happily when the terrorists attacked the Church. Even a one and a half years old baby girl is also very seriously injured and is fighting for life.
They were three men, when they tried to enter the Church the security guards tried to stop them, but they started firing. In response of that the guards and the security forces also exchanged firing. It is pertinent to mention here that all the churches in Pakistan especially big congregations are under severe threats after the Church attacks in Youhanabad in 2015. There are always security forces outside the church gates to protect the churches. Therefore the security forces started firing in order to stop them. Two of them escaped upon their failure to enter the Church but the one in spite of all his injuries in leg and arm entered in the church courtyard, he was firing blindly at the church and at the security guards. One of the attendee of the Holy mass saw him and he quickly locked the main door of the Church, while their children were in separate hall for Sunday school mass. He also shouted towards the management looking after the children to close the main door. Therefore the children at least attending the Sunday school kept safe. But when the suicide bomber tried to enter the church and found the main door locked from inside he blew himself at the door. The wooden door couldn’t bare the pressure of the blast and the people stood closer to the door got injured badly. Many people got injured form the firing, and mostly got injured and even killed by the blast. The injured are having ball bearings, wooden pieces and glass from the windows and inner doors of the church in their bodies and few of them are in very serious condition.
The Voice’s Volunteers in Quetta reached the place of incidence after hearing about it. They stood there all the time helping the ambulances to take the injured and helped to collect the torn and injured bodies of the dead. Our Volunteers have reported that the number of casualties is not exactly nine. It is about 18, i.e. about 18 people have died and more than 60 are injured. However, at this stage it will take some time to collect the exact data from all hospitals and from the community.
The Voice’s Volunteers are still working for the brothers and sisters in Quetta, and I will publish the names and particulars of the affected people (injured and Martyred) in my next update.
Prayer Request:
The Voice team request you to pray for the injured children and for the brothers and sisters who are fighting for life in serious condition. Moreover please pray for the souls of our brothers and sisters who could not survive the attack and slept in Christ. We also request you to help them financially for the medical treatments, because we know from youhanabad how much our Government is serious about the Christian brothers and sisters. In difficult times we always see towards our brothers and sisters in Christ because we know that they also feel the same pain as we are feeling here as the body of Christ. Please keep us all in your prayers.
Aggrieved,
The Voice team
