From our contact in Pakistan…

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a church in Pakistan’s Peshawar, killing 56 people and injuring dozens, reports said Sunday.

The suicide attack targeted St. John’s church in Peshawar’s Kohati gate area as Sunday services came to an end.

According to Commissioner of Peshawar Sahibzada Muhammad Anis, the attack took place when worshipers were coming out of the church after Sunday Mass.

The commissioner added that 600-700 people were inside the church at the time of the attack.

Those injured have been rushed to the nearby hospital and more doctors have been called to the respond to the patients.

Suicide bombing in Pakistan (via London Evening Standard)

The intensity of the blast was such that the windows of the nearby buildings were shattered.

The police has cordoned off the area and the bomb disposal squad has also reached to the site.

The church is situated in a very congested locality which is always jam packed with the people mostly women as the area is the hub markets and shopping centers The Christian community lives in the vicinity and visited the church for Sunday service in large number.

Please Keep us in your prayers.
(name redacted)

Hours after receiving the above email from our contact, the New York Times reported on the suicide attack:

A suicide attack on a historic church in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 78 people on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks on the Christian minority in Pakistan in years.

The attack occurred as worshipers left All Saints Church in the old quarter of the regional capital, Peshawar, after a service on Sunday morning. Up to 600 people had attended and were leaving to receive free food being distributed on the lawn outside when two explosions ripped through the crowd. “As soon as the service finished and the food was being distributed, all of a sudden we heard one explosion, followed by another,” said Azim Ghori, a witness.

Obviously, since we were informed via email, the death total increased.