Two suicide bombers struck a church in Pakistan on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding more than 50 others, authorities said, in the first attack on a church claimed by the country's Islamic State group affiliate.
A volunteer rescues a child while others removing a body following the suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas when the bombers appeared in the city of Quetta and clashed with security forces. One assailant was killed at the church entrance. The other made it inside, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province.
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Two suicide bombers struck a church in Pakistan on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding more than 50 others, authorities said, in the first attack on a church claimed by the country's Islamic State group affiliate.
Hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas when the bombers appeared in the city of Quetta and clashed with security forces. One assailant was killed at the church entrance. The other made it inside, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province.
A man helps an injured woman and a child following an attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A police officer shouts as children are rescued following a suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Pakistani police officers take positions following a suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A rescue worker comforts a man mourning beside the lifeless body of a family member, killed in the suicide attack on a church, at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Baluchistan Police Chief Moazzam Ansari praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building.
"Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher," he told reporters.
Quetta Police Chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said a search was underway for two suspected accomplices who escaped.
Local television showed ambulances and security patrols racing to the scene as women and children were being led out of the church's main gate.
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack on their Aamaq news agency, saying two "plungers" from their group had stormed the church, without providing further details.
It was the first time the Islamic State group has claimed an attack on a church in Pakistan, though Muslim extremists have claimed church attacks in the past. The deadliest example was in September 2013, when twin suicide bomb blasts killed 85 people in a Peshawar church. In March 2015, two suicide bombers attacked two churches in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 15 people.
Fifty-seven people were wounded in the latest attack, including seven who were listed in critical condition, according to Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Quetta's main hospital.
A young girl in a white dress sobbed as she recounted the attack to Geo television, saying many people around her were wounded.
Aqil Anjum, who was shot in his right arm, told The Associated Press he heard a blast in the middle of the service, followed by heavy gunfire.
"It was chaos. Bullets were hitting people inside the closed hall," he said.
Dozens of Christians gathered outside a nearby hospital to protest the lack of security. Pakistan's president and other senior officials condemned the attack.
A paramilitary soldier and volunteers rescue an injured women following a suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A man helps an injured woman and a child following an attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A police officer shouts as children are rescued following a suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Pakistani police officers take positions following a suicide attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A rescue worker comforts a man mourning beside the lifeless body of a family member, killed in the suicide attack on a church, at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The leaders of Iran and Pakistan agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting on Monday that sought to smooth over a diplomatic rift.
Ties were strained between the neighbors in January when each carried out strikes in the other’s territory, targeting militants accused of attacking security forces.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials on his three-day visit. Authorities deployed hundreds of additional police and paramilitary forces for security.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months, mostly blamed on Pakistani Taliban and insurgents targeting security forces in Pakistan and neighboring Iran.
According to a statement, the two leaders discussed a range of bilateral issues and vowed to cooperate to fight terrorism. They reiterated their condemnations of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
Sharif praised Iran’s “strong stand on the issue of Palestine” and said “Pakistan is also with the Palestinians.”
Raisi said the killings by Israel in Gaza were being committed with the support of the United States and other Western countries. He criticized international organizations, including the United Nations, saying, “They say they support human rights, but they proved that they are inefficient.”
The visit comes after Iran’s unprecedented direct strikes on Israel and an apparent Israeli response. Pakistan is among the countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel because of the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Raisi also vowed to boost what he called “unacceptably” meager bilateral trade with Pakistan and called for setting up more border markets. Pakistan and Iran set up the first such border market in southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province last year, promising five more under a 2012 agreement.
The two leaders signed eight cooperation agreements, according to Sharif's office.
Authorities said the two sides also discussed a multi-billion gas pipeline project, on hold since 2014. The project — opposed by Washington as a violation of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program — launched in 2013 to supply Iranian natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan.
Iran says it had already completed the pipeline on its side of the border after investing $2 billion. Pakistan was supposed to finish construction on its territory by the end of 2014 but work stalled, leading to tensions between the nations.
The Iranian president later met with his Pakistani counterpart Asil Ali Zardari, who helped launch the pipeline project after traveling to Iran in 2013.
On Monday night, Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen. Asim Munir met with the Iranian president, the military said in a statement. It said their discussion focused on "matters of mutual interest, notably regional peace, stability and border security.”
The statement said Munir described the Pakistan-Iran border as “the border of peace and friendship" but emphasized the need for improved coordination there “to prevent terrorists from jeopardizing the longstanding brotherly relations.”
It quoted Raisi as saying that by fostering cooperation between the militaries, Iran and Pakistan “can attain peace and stability for both nations and the region."
Raisi also met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The two discussed regional and global developments and “affirmed commitment to peace and constructive dialogue for resolving regional challenges."
Raisi is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation. He plans to visit Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, and Lahore, where he will meet with the country's recently elected first female chief minister, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
In this photo released by Press Information Department, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, second left back, with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, right back, witness a signing of MoUs of cooperation in different fields between Iran and Pakistan at prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. Iranian and Pakistani leaders vowed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting on Monday, as the two countries seek to smooth over a diplomatic rift. (Press Information Department via AP)
In this photo released by Press Information Department, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, second left, holds official talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, second right, at prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. Iranian and Pakistani leaders vowed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting on Monday, as the two countries seek to smooth over a diplomatic rift. (Press Information Department via AP)
In this photo released by Press Information Department, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, shakes hand with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prior to their meeting at prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. Iranian and Pakistani leaders vowed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting on Monday, as the two countries seek to smooth over a diplomatic rift. (Press Information Department via AP)
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, right, with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, prays after planting a tree in the prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, walks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a welcome ceremony in the prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, walks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a welcome ceremony in the prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, greets to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi upon his arrival in the prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)
In this photo released by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gets down from plane upon his arrival in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. Raisi arrived in Islamabad on a three-day visit on Monday, during which he will discuss a range of issues with authorities in Pakistan's capital, officials said. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)
