Lahore blast damages Church buildings

(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.