Cleric detained over Pakistani church attack as victims buried
Police also detained three other people yesterday for questioning in the attack, which injured 13 people in Chianwala, about 40 miles northwest of Lahore. Two assailants covered in burqas the all-encompassing garment worn by women in some Islamic countries tossed a grenade into the middle of worshippers at a Christmas service on Wednesday.
Yesterday, about 2,500 people, several times the number of the church's normal congregation, gathered for a memorial service for the girls killed in the attack.
The coffins of the victims aged six, 10 and 15 were carried on the shoulders of mourners to a local cemetery for burial.
In a statement, newly elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali described the attack as "dastardly" and designed to "foment religious and sectarian strife" in Pakistan.
Since Pakistan lent its support to the US-led military campaign to overthrow Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban, attacks on Christians by suspected Islamic militants have increased, killing more than two dozen people.
The cleric, who uses only the one name, Afzar, was being detained because of hateful remarks toward Christians made three days earlier in a sermon at a mosque in the district of Daska, where Chianwala is located, police said.
Authorities say they have no evidence yet that he was directly involved in the attack.
Afzar reportedly told his congregation that "it is the duty of every good Muslim to kill Christians", according to Nazir Yaqub, a police officer in Daska. "Afzar told people 'you should attack Christians and not even have food until you have seen their dead bodies,'" Yaqub said.
Afzar's son, Attaullah, was also detained for questioning.
The two are open supporters of the banned group Jaish-e-Mohammed, a violent anti-India organisation with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network, said a police officer in Chianwala, Mohammed Riaz.
