Militants hit Pakistani Christian colony ‎

Militants in Pakistan attacked a Christian colony near the northwestern city of Peshawar killing a civilian in the exchange of fire.  Militants wearing suicide vests stormed the Christian neighborhood early on Friday morning, triggering a shoot-out in which four attackers were killed and one Christian died, police and the military said. Three security officials and two civilian guards were wounded in the attack.  Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement that the attack was quickly repulsed and that security forces were searching for any accomplices.

Local police official Shaukat Khan said four suicide bombers entered the Christian colony. One of them went into a church, but no one was there at the time. He said the attackers killed one Christian in the neighborhood. It was not immediately clear if any of the suicide bombers had detonated their explosives.  The quick response from the local civilian guards and security forces prevented more deaths, Khan said. 

In a separate suicide bomb attack on a district court in Mardan, some 40 kilometers northeast of Peshawar, a militant killed 10 people and wounded 41 others. The suicide bomber threw a grenade at the district court before detonating his explosives, according to government spokesman Mushtaq Ghani. He said that lawyers, policemen and passers-by were among the 10 people killed in the attack. Some of the wounded were critically injured, Ghani said.  Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ur-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attacks.  (Source: AP)