Pakistani bishop calls church attack 'shameful act of cowardice'

Christian schools close for three days in mourning and protest

A member of the Pakistani Christian community holds a sign as he shouts slogans during a
protest against the attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar. (Photo: CNS / Mohsin Raza / Reuters)

Every Christian educational institution in Pakistan is closed today after a bomb attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan Sept. 22. Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi named Sept. 23-25 the period of mourning for the schools.

Archbishop Coutts also demanded that the Pakistani government take immediate steps to apprehend those responsible for the attack and to take measures to protect the worship sites of all religious minorities in Pakistan.

"We condemn this act in strongest terms," he said in a Sept. 22 statement.

The death toll in the bombing had reached 85 by early Sept. 23. Authorities expected it to increase because many of the 150 who were injured were in critical condition.

Police said two suicide bombers, each wearing more than 13 pounds of explosives, detonated themselves following a Sunday service as 600 members of the Protestant church gathered on the church lawn for food distribution.

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