[Today’s Prayer] Another Islamic Sectarian Clash in Northwest Pakistan… "18 Dead"

Clashes between Sunni and Shiite Islamic sects broke out again in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 18 people and injuring 30, local media and Reuters reported on the 23rd (local time).

Gunmen torched a petrol station and attacked houses in the Sunni village of Kurram in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province the night before, a top provincial official, Nadim Islam Chaudhry, said.

In this area, 40 people were killed on the 21st when armed men opened fire on moving buses and passenger cars.

This brings the cumulative death toll in Kurram district over the past two days to 58, Reuters reported.

AFP, citing an anonymous official, also reported that 32 people were killed in the attacks the night before.

Local officials said the previous night's attack appeared to be retaliation for the Shiite community, given that most of the dead on the 21st were Shiites, and that the damage could have been greater had the villagers not evacuated.

The two sects generally coexist peacefully, but in some areas of Kurram where Shia are the majority, clashes have occurred frequently for decades over land issues and other issues.

Source : News

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:3-4)

God, we turn to you, our only living hope. We hear of yet another round of sectarian clashes in the Kurram district of northwestern Pakistan, where lives have been lost and many are in pain.

Lord, we ask that you remember the many souls that have bled here, and that you allow your comfort and peace to those who are in fear and sorrow.

God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with his abundant compassion regenerates us and leads us to a living hope. In the midst of the suffering and turmoil of this world, we praise you for giving us life beyond death and true hope.

Lord, the conflict and hatred between Islamic sects is intensifying and claiming more lives. So that the strife and retaliation between the two sects may not be endless, show them the way of true peace and help them to realize the love of Jesus Christ, who forgives human hatred and sin.

May all the people of Pakistan, Shia and Sunni alike, lay hold of the hope of heaven, an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and undiminished forever, and may the Church in Pakistan and the Church worldwide rise up to preach the Gospel to them.  May the seeds of the gospel be sown in this land so that we may see a Pakistan connected by love and no longer by violence.

Lord, through this time of suffering, let a marvelous work take place as the people of Pakistan come to know and believe in Jesus.

Allow the gospel of peace on this land, and quicken the day when the multitudes of souls in Pakistan will be born again in the name of Jesus Christ and partake of God's great salvation!

May we see the many ethnic minorities of Pakistan come to the only living hope, Jesus Christ, and be among all peoples!

May Pakistan, the world's second most populous Muslim nation, become a holy nation that rises up with the gospel as the final weapon of the gospel to reach all nations!