PESHAWAR: The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the Sunday’s brutal attack in a church in the restive northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar that left at least over 80 persons dead.
The TTP, an umbrella group of Islamist militants, said it had set up a new faction, called the Junood ul-Hifsa, to kill foreigners to avenge US drone strikes on Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives.
“We carried out the suicide bombings at Peshawar church and will continue to strike foreigners and non-Muslims until drone attacks stop,” Ahmad Marwat, a spokesman for the group, told a foreign news agency by telephone.
“(The Christians) are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them. We will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land,” Marwat was quoted as saying.
On Sunday, two suicide bombers wreaked havoc with two consecutive blasts amongst hundreds of innocent Christian worshippers outside an old church in Peshawar, killing 81 persons and wounding over 180 others.
Meanwhile, a resolution was submitted in the Punjab Assembly in Lahore on Monday, condemning the Peshawar Church blasts.
The resolution was submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) MPA Saadia Suhail.
