PESHAWAR, Sept 24: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Tuesday termed bombing of the All Saints Church an “attack on Pakistan”.

He was talking to media persons during his visit to the church on the third day of the twin suicide blasts there.

“No Muslim or a human being can commit such a heinous crime,” Mr Khattak said.

The perpetrators of the attacks killing innocent worshippers inside the church have no religion and they can not be called human beings, he said. The chief minister said that the killing of members of Christian community was a big loss due to which dozens of families had been devastated.

“The killing of Christians by terrorists has conveyed a very negative message to the world,” he said and added that terrorists had not spared mosques, seminaries, churches, funeral prayers and other religious places.

He said that Prime Minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif was on a visit to the United States and the occurrence of such a terrorist incident was a conspiracy to damage the image of Pakistan. He said that people, police and army had rendered great sacrifices in the war on terror in the previous 10 years.

About negotiations with militants, Mr Khattak said that all political parties had empowered the federal government’s All Parties Conference to go ahead and initiate the peace process. “Whatever decision is taken by the APC about the talks with militants, will be acceptable to us,” he said. He strongly condemned the tragic incident and vowed that the elements involved in this incident would be awarded exemplary punishment. The chief minister also participated in prayer services inside the church.

Meanwhile, an investigation team of the Federal Investigation Agency arrived here from Islamabad and examined the site of explosion. The members of the team collected evidence from the site.

The visiting team also talked to leaders of the Christian community. The team recorded statements of the injured victims, who are under treatment in Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.