Pakistan church attack: Islamic State claims suicide bombing that killed 5

Reuters photo

CAIRO: Islamic State claimed an attack on a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday which killed at least five people, the group's Amaq news agency said in an online statement.

It said two Islamic State members had carried out the attack but provided no evidence for the claim.

At least five worshippers were killed and 20 others injured in a suicide bombing at a church in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive southwestern Balochistan province today.

Around four militants attacked the church located on Zarghon Road of the provincial capital when the Sunday service was going on, according to police. 

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that at least two attackers were involved. "One attacker was killed at the gate by police while the other wearing suicide vest entered the church and detonated his explosives," he said.

DIG police Abadul Razzaq Cheema said that two more attackers were involved but they ran away after one of the attackers was gunned down by police. He said the fleeing militants were chased by police and killed.

He said that four worshippers were killed and 20 others injured in the attack.

Following the attack, an emergency was imposed in all hospitals across Quetta.

Police teams and rescue teams have reached the site of the explosion, and the area has been cordoned off.

Pakistan Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the attack, which came a day after Pakistan observed the third anniversary of the Peshawar school attack of 2014 which killed at least 150 people, mostly students.