At least 80 worshippers at an Anglican church in Peshawar, Pakistan were killed when a pair of suicide bombers detonated outside of the church as services finished over the weekend.
The attack on the All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar, which also wounded over 140 people, occurred as worshippers were leaving after service to get a free meal of rice offered on the front lawn.
A wing of the Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying they would continue to target non-Muslims until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the remote tribal region of Pakistan.
The bombings raised new questions about the Pakistani government's push to strike a peace deal with the militants to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.
The death toll is expected to climb due to the severity of some of the injuries, making it one of the deadliest attacks against the nation's Christian community.
Sunday's attacks led to protests by angry members of Pakistan's Christian minority in Karachi, who blocked traffic and burned tires to protest inadequate protection from the government. While police are often assigned to protect mosques and churches, the policeman assigned to the church in Peshawar was among those killed in this weekend's attack.
The predominantly Muslim nation's Christian minority is routinely discriminated against and targeted for violence by terrorist groups who view them as enemies of Islam.
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