Lahore church bombings
| 2015 Lahore church bombings لاہور گرجہ گھر دھماکے |
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|---|---|
Location of Lahore in Punjab
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| Location | Lahore, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 31°24′41″N 74°21′58″E / 31.411291°N 74.366078°E |
| Date | 15 March 2015 |
| Target | Roman Catholic Church, Christ Church |
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Attack type
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Suicide bombings |
| Deaths | 19 15 2 policemen and 2 passers-by |
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Non-fatal injuries
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70 |
| Perpetrators | Jamaat-ul-Ahrar |
| Motive | Retaliation against Operation Zarb-e-Azb |
On 15 March 2015, two blasts took place at Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church during Sunday service at Youhanabad town of Lahore, Pakistan. At least 15 people were killed and seventy were wounded in the attacks.
The attack was followed by mob violence killing two men mistaken as militants. It was the second attack on Christians minority after the deadliest attack in 2013 on All Saints church in Peshawar. In August 2015, Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada announced that five members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban were arrested in connection to the attack. According to the statement, the men received monetary and material support from India and planned the attack in Afghanistan, from where they came to Lahore. The arrested men also confessed to planning further attacks in Karachi and Lahore.
The Pakistani Taliban operates as an umbrella organization for various Islamist militant groups in Pakistan. They actively target religious minorities for attacks, including a series of attacks in 2002. In August 2002, three nurses died in a grenade attack on a chapel located on the grounds of the Taxila Christian Hospital, in September 2002 seven charity workers were killed in Karachi and on 25 December 2002 a grenade attack on a Presbyterian church killed three girls. The September 2013 suicide attack on the historic All Saints Church in Peshawar killed 75 people.
One of the Islamist militant groups allied to the Pakistani Taliban is Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway organisation that reunited in March 2015. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar carried out the November 2014 Wagah border attack where over 60 people died and over 100 were injured, and the same month killed at least six people in Mohmand Agency and attacked the membership camp of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party in Karachi.
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Wikipedia