(May 30, 2009) Several Church-run schools have been closed indefinitely after a suicide
bomb attack took place near Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore. The car bomb targeting
police and intelligence agency offices killed 35 people, including policemen, civilians
and security officers, and injured around 250 others. The May 27 blast damaged buildings
in the nearby cathedral compound. The cathedral premises are home to the Bookshop
of the Daughters of St. Paul, St. Anthony Higher Secondary School, Sacred Heart Cathedral
High School for Boys and Sacred Heart Cathedral High School for Girls. The blast
shattered several windows and cracked walls in these buildings, a few meters east
of the target. However, no students were injured and the schools have been closed
indefinitely. "We were conducting monthly tests and the children had arranged parties
in each class that day," said Hadayat Nazar, a Catholic teacher in Sacred Heart Cathedral
High School for Boys. Anxious parents came to collect their children soon after the
blast. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (The Movement of Taliban) has claimed responsibility
for the suicide bombing. Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore and Vicar General
Father Andrew Nisari prayed in the cathedral in the evening after the blast for peace
in the country and comfort for victims' families. Later in a press statement he condemned
the attack.