09/22/2019 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – On September 22, 2013, at approximately 11:45 a.m., two explosions erupted in the courtyard of All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan. The explosions ripped through the crowd of hundreds of Christians who were filing out of the church following the conclusion of the Sunday service.
The resulting scene was that of mass carnage with shrapnel, body parts and blood littering the church courtyard. When the smoke cleared, over 100 Christians were killed and hundreds were more wounded, requiring immediate medical attention.
The Jundallah group, an affiliate of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide bombing. To date, it remains the single deadliest attack on Pakistan’s Christian community.
While today marks six years since the bombing of All Saints Church, the Christian community of Peshawar continue to feel the effects of the attack. They also continue to remember and honor the memory of those lost in 2013.
“We lost both of our parents,” Shayan and Sam Emmanuel, both still in elementary school, recently told International Christian Concern (ICC). “We are now being looked after by our elderly grandparents.”
“We can never forget that day when we lost our dear ones,” Izhaq John, a survivor of the bombing told ICC. “The suffering of the incident is still lingering on as Irum Bukhtiyar, a Christian girl injured in the bombing, died just a few months back.”
