Christians Under Attack

The deadly attack occurred June 11 near Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, the British Broadcasting Corp reported.

A bomb planted on a motorbike detonated, destroying a passenger bus. The apparent target of the attack was a bus of pilgrims who follow the Shiite branch of Islam, .

Apparently, the timed device attached to the motorbike detonated too late, missing the bus of pilgrims and instead destroying a passenger bus. Six people died in the blast and at least 40 were injured, the BBC reported.

The number of deaths has since risen to 18, said Philip Ganta, an Indian Christian who oversees the Dubai School of Preaching, a ministry training facility in the Middle Eastern nation of United Arab Emirates. Foreign nationals who come to Dubai for employment study at the school.

Christians from Pakistan and Afghanistan were on the bus, Ganta said, and six of them died. At least 10 more were injured. Some of the Christians had studied at the Dubai School of Preaching and were en route to work with believers in Balochistan, Ganta said.

The school’s students and church members in Dubai collected more than $1,000 to help the victims’ families.

Oasis Outreach, a church-supported ministry that works with the Dubai school, also is collecting funds. The ministry is a work of the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh, N.C.

“Over the coming weeks we are hoping to raise $5,000 in aid for the families of these believers,” said Mike O’Leary, director of Oasis Outreach. “Many of them have lost the only breadwinner in the family.

“Hopefully, we will be able to ease their suffering by showing God’s love to those of his household through those in his kingdom.”

TO CONTRIBUTE or for more information, contact OASIS Outreach at info@oasisoutreach.org.

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