(31 Jan 2022) A funeral was held on Monday for a Pakistani Christian priest who was shot in the northwest, as police widened their manhunt for two unidentified assailants.
Mourners at the funeral in Peshawar on Monday said they did not feel safe.
The assailants shot and killed Father William Siraj, 75, while on his way home after celebrating Sunday Mass in the city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.
One of his traveling companions, Father Naeem Patrick, was wounded while a third priest was unharmed in the attack.
The attackers fled the scene.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Christians are a tiny minority in this predominantly Sunni Muslim country, where about half are members of the Church of Pakistan, a Protestant church.
The other half are mostly Catholic.
Militants in Pakistan have targeted Christians several times in recent years.
Overall, militant attacks have increased across Pakistan since the Pakistani Taliban ended a cease-fire with the government in Islamabad last month.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as TTP, have become emboldened by the Afghan Taliban’s sweep to power in the neighboring country in mid-August.

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