It was an ordinary morning on 17 December 2017 as members of a Christian church in Quetta, Pakistan arrived at their church’s Christmas celebration service.
Partway through the service, however, an ISIS suicide bomber entered the church, killing 11 Christians and wounding many others.
One of the people killed in the explosion was Fazal, whose young son had been standing nearby, preparing to take communion. Fazal’s son survived the attack.
In Pakistan, Christians are marginalised by the Muslim majority and receive little protection from the government, making them easy targets of Muslim extremist attacks. Large gatherings of believers on Christian holidays such as Christmas are regularly targeted by extremists.
Although the church members of the Quetta attack mourned for those killed in the bombing, they also praised God; three other suicide bombers had also tried to enter the church building but were stopped by security guards and fled. If the other attacks had managed to get inside, the death toll would have been far higher.
Pakistani Christians endure great hardship for their faith. They are hated by their neighbours and treated as second-class citizens by their own countrymen. To learn how you can pray for Pakistan, click here .