William SIraj priest
William Siraj, 75, was shot muliple occasions by gunmen on motorbikes (Image: AP Photograph/Muhammad Sajjad)

Gunmen in Pakistan have gunned down a Christian priest and wounded one other as they drove residence from Sunday Mass.

Father William Siraj, 75, died immediately after being hit a number of occasions throughout a sprig of gunfire in a residential of the north-western metropolis of Peshawar.

Fellow clergyman Naeem Patrick was handled in hospital for a gunshot wound to the hand.

No-one has but claimed accountability for the assault, although police have arrange safety checkpoints across the metropolis whereas reviewing CCTV to find the culprits, who fled on bikes.

Pakistan’s small Christian minority has been focused plenty of occasions by militant Islamists in addition to in mob assaults in Muslim-majority villages.

Whereas Muslims and Christians principally co-exist peacefully all through the nation, this has been threatened by persistent extremism and accusations of blasphemy which carry a few of the strongest penalties on the earth.

Violence by extremists has risen additional because the Taliban’s offshoot in Pakistan ended a ceasefire with the federal government final month.

A memorial service for Father Siraj can be held on Monday at Peshawar’s All Saint’s Church, the place greater than 70 worshippers and 100 had been wounded in a bombing and taking pictures assault by militants in 2013.

A suicide assault focusing on Easter celebrations at a playground in Lahore in March 2016 left 70 useless and greater than 340 wounded.

A man comforts a relative of Christian priest Father William Siraj, 75, who was killed by unknown gunmen, mourn next to his body at his home in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Police said gunmen killed Siraj and wounded another priest as they were driving home from Sunday Mass in Pakistan???s northwestern city of Peshawar. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
A relative is comforted by a fellow mourner after the tragedy (Image: AP)

Chief minister Mahmood Shah of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province condemned the assault, urging police to search out the culprits as quickly as attainable.

Bishop Humphrey Peter additionally condemned the killing and stated the attackers sought solely to undermine relations between Pakistan’s religion teams.

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