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Interior of Church show destruction after suicide bomb attack

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Two suicide bombers attacked a packed Catholic church in south-western Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding up to 45 before one of them blew himself up and police killed the other, officials said.

Mobile phone footage shot by local reporters showed the destruction inside the church hall, and security surrounding the place.

The gunmen wearing explosives-filled vests stormed the church in Quetta city when Sunday services had just opened, exploding a suicide vest and shooting at the Christian worshippers, said Sarfraz Bugti, the home minister of Baluchistan province.

Police guards at the church exchanged fire with the attackers before they could enter the main sanctuary, said provincial police chief Moazzam Jah.

He said two women were among those killed.

Jah said the venue – Bethel Memorial Methodist Church – was on high alert as Christian places of worship were often targeted by Islamist extremist over Christmas.

Another police official, Abdur Razaq Cheema, said two attackers escaped from the scene. No one has claimed responsibility.

Baluchistan has long been the scene of an insurgency by separatists fighting against the state to demand more of a share of the gas- and mineral-rich region’s resources.

They also accuse the central government of discrimination.

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