Bahawalpur church shooting
Part of religious discrimination in Pakistan
Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Punjab, Pakistan) Show map of Punjab, Pakistan Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Pakistan) Show map of Pakistan
Location	Saint Dominic's church, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
Coordinates	29°23′23.92″N 71°39′44.3″E / 29.3899778°N 71.662306°E / 29.3899778; 71.662306
Date	28 October 2001
Target	Christians
Attack type	Mass shooting
Weapons	AK-47s
Deaths	18
Victims	Christians and guard of church
Assailants	Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
No. of participants	6
Motive	Retaliation to the Afghanistan invasion

The Bahawalpur church shooting was a mass shooting at Saint Dominic's Church in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan on 28 October 2001 by six assailants belonging to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The guard of the church and 17 other Christians were killed.

Background

Non-Muslims are targeted in Pakistan by extremists. Since Pakistan backed the United States in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan,^{[clarification needed]} terrorists are targeting Pakistani minorities, especially Christians.^[1]

Shooting

Six masked gunmen riding on three motorcycles bring out their AK 47 riffles which they were hiding in their bags and started shooting. At the time, around 100 people were inside church. They first killed the guard of the church at the gate and then entered the church and started firing on worshippers.^[2] While shooting, they were chanting slogans, "Afghanistan and Pakistan, graveyard of Christians" and were also chanting "Allah hu Akbar" (God is Great). They fired for three minutes, from 08:52 to 08:55 (UTC + 0:500).^[3] The assault left 18 people dead.^[2]

Reactions

The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf said that he was saddened by killing of Christians and accused trained extremists of the attack.^[2]

Two days after the attack, police launched a crackdown and captured 22 suspects.^[4] On 28 July 2002, 4 suspects belonging from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who admitted to have committed the crime, were killed in an ambush.^[5]