Azhar and Rahib were shot in broad daylight on the streets of Quetta city this week – the third extremist attack on local Christians in just four months.
Christians in southern Balochistan province are now living in fear as 15 believers have been murdered since mid-December. Islamic State (IS) says it carried out the attacks.
Please pray that God will comfort Azhar and Rahib’s families – and every other believer in Quetta.
Four gunmen on motorbikes shot Azhar, 26, and 16-year-old Rahib as they sat outside Azhar’s home opposite a church in the mainly Christian Isa Nagri area on Sunday evening. Three others were injured in the shooting, including two girls, aged 11 and 13.
Azhar’s father, Hakeem, says staff at the medical centre where Azhar was taken ‘didn’t know how to treat bullet wounds’ as there was no senior doctor present. Azhar later died. ‘The terrorists have not just killed Azhar, they have also killed me and his mother,’ says Hakeem.
The attack follows an incident in Quetta on Easter Monday when four members of a family were shot dead. At least nine Christians were killed in a suicide attack on a Methodist church in the city just before Christmas.
- Pray that God will console and provide for Rahib and Azhar’s families. Rahib’s father is paralysed so Rahib, his only son, was considered the family’s future breadwinner.
- Pray that the Pakistan Government will heed local Christians’ calls for greater protection and increased security for their community.
- Pray that God will thwart the plans of Islamist extremists in Quetta and across Pakistan – and lead them to repentance and new life in Him. Thank God that He loves Pakistan and all its people. (Click here to read more about our #Pray50 campaign.)
(Source: Morning Star News)
UPDATES
Thank God that our Iranian brother Hadi Asgari has been released from Evin Prison in Tehran after posting bail. Please continue to pray for the success of an appeal by Hadi, Amin Nader Afshari and Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, expected on April 25 or May 8. (Source: Middle East Concern)
Please continue to pray for peace and justice for US pastor Andrew Brunson whose trial is being heard in Turkey. He faces 35 years in jail for ‘spying’ and alleged involvement with proscribed groups accused of plotting the military coup of 2016 – claims he strongly denies. Last week, Andrew was transferred to a different prison, one notorious for its overcrowding. After a court hearing on Monday, US President Donald Trump described Pastor Andrew in a tweet as being ‘persecuted for no reason’. The next hearing is scheduled for May 7. (Sources: CBN News, Middle East Concern, USCIRF)
