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dpa
Islamabad
Gunmen in north-western Pakistan on Sunday shot and killed a Christian priest amid a resurgence of violence in the region bordering Afghanistan.
The incident took place in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when a vehicle carrying two priests was attacked after Sunday mass. Priest William Siraj was killed while the other priest was wounded in the attack.
“We have launched a search operation to arrest the attackers,” Syedul Amin, a spokesperson for Peshawar police, told dpa.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Analysts are of the view that the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan has emboldened Islamists in Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban, a separate group from their Afghan counterparts who are waging an insurgency to implement sharia rule in that country, stepped up their violent campaign after the fall of Kabul.
Last week, Pakistan’s government raised the security alert across major cities after the Taliban launched more than a dozen attacks.
Around 80,000 Pakistani civilians and security forces have been killed in suicide bombings, bomb assaults and gun attacks by the Taliban in almost two decades of violence.
Islamabad
Gunmen in north-western Pakistan on Sunday shot and killed a Christian priest amid a resurgence of violence in the region bordering Afghanistan.
The incident took place in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when a vehicle carrying two priests was attacked after Sunday mass. Priest William Siraj was killed while the other priest was wounded in the attack.
“We have launched a search operation to arrest the attackers,” Syedul Amin, a spokesperson for Peshawar police, told dpa.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Analysts are of the view that the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan has emboldened Islamists in Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban, a separate group from their Afghan counterparts who are waging an insurgency to implement sharia rule in that country, stepped up their violent campaign after the fall of Kabul.
Last week, Pakistan’s government raised the security alert across major cities after the Taliban launched more than a dozen attacks.
Around 80,000 Pakistani civilians and security forces have been killed in suicide bombings, bomb assaults and gun attacks by the Taliban in almost two decades of violence.
