Police thwart attack outside church in Lahore

Two passersby injured in shootout as two masked motorcyclists open fire on policemen guarding St Peter’s Catholic Church in Township

Two unidentified masked men opened fire on policemen guarding a church in the Township area of Lahore on Tuesday resulting in injuries to two passersby.

Per details, two masked motorcyclists opened fire outside the Saint Peter’s Catholic Church and High School in the Girja Chowk area of Township around 2pm on Tuesday. Two policemen deployed for security of the building retaliated to the attack, forcing the assailants to flee. The shootout resulted in injuries to two passersby, identified as Imran and Majeed.

According to Babu Azam, the caretaker of the church, the students of the school had left the premises around 1pm and there were only 20-25 people inside the establishment at the time of the firing incident.

“There was no specific warning passed on to us from the local police authorities. Moreover it was a weekday and only the school was open for activities. Fortunately no one from the school or clergy was injured in the attack due to the courageous resistance by the policemen deployed for our security,” he said.

Local Christians present on the scene raised slogans in favour of the police, acknowledging the bravery shown by the two constables who risked their lives by confronting the unidentified assailants head on. The crowd also raised slogans against terrorism, vowing that the Pakistani Christians stood beside their fellow citizens in fighting extremism.

Township Police SHO Asif Khan told Pakistan Today at the crime scene that the gunmen fled after stiff resistance put up by the police constables deployed for the church’s security. “We have obtained the CCTV footage from the church and I’m quite hopeful that the attackers would be tracked down soon,” he said, adding that a case had been registered against unidentified men.

The Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif also took notice of the shootout outside the church and has ordered Operations DIG Haider Ashraf to submit a report to him.