Thousands mourn dead in church gun attack

Thousands of Christians and some Muslims today mourned 16 people killed when masked gunmen opened fire on a church service in Pakistan.

More than 5,000 people packed into St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Behawalpur, the same sanctuary where the gun stormed into a Protestant service , peppering the congregation with bullets.

The Rev Andrew Francis, the Catholic bishop of Punjab, urged Christians to adhere to the biblical principle of turning the other cheek: "We are the follower of a man who loves, who sacrificed his life for a noble cause," Francis said, referring to Jesus Christ. "We are forgiving those who killed innocent people. But their case will now be heard in the court of God Almighty."

The attack by masked gunmen in this south–central Pakistani city was the most lethal in memory against the country's small Christian community. 14 worshippers, their minister and a Muslim police officer guarding the church were slain.

There was no claim of responsibility, but intelligence officials said members of a banned Islamic group were under suspicion.

The victims' bodies were returned to their home villages after the funeral. Most shops were closedtoday, as was Behawalpur's bazaar. St. Dominic's was under heavy police guard, and security was stepped up at Christian churches across Pakistan.

Pope John Paul II and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and have both condemned the attacks. "This is something which is intolerable," Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said .

Though St. Dominic's is a Catholic church, a Protestant congregation in Behawalpur that lacks its own building was worshipping there – as it has for 30 years – when the shootings took place.