This is what the BBC says about massacre of the Pakistani Christians:
news.bbc.co.uk
Pakistan massacre suspects arrested
Thirteen people have been arrested in Pakistan as police hunt for the killers of 16 Christians at a church service.
The killings, which took place on Sunday in the eastern town of Bahawalpur, were the worst attacks against Christians in Pakistani history.
Masked gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on the congregation, and also killed a Muslim police guard outside.
President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack as an "act of terrorism".
The BBC's Susannah Price in Islamabad says most of those detained apparently belong to hardline Islamic militant groups.
Enraged mourners
There are no reports of anyone being charged so far.
Police meanwhile have recovered 142 bullets from the church.
At a funeral service on Monday, the Catholic bishop of Punjab told people to remain peaceful and follow the Christian principle of turning the other cheek.
But many of the angry mourners chanted slogans demanding protection, and calling for revenge.
There was heavy police security as 13 of the bodies were taken in a procession of vehicles to a nearby Christian graveyard for burial.
Security has been stepped up at Christian churches across the country.
President Musharraf has also promised a long-term strategy to counter terrorism and sectarian extremism.
And he vowed that no effort would be spared to catch those involved in Sunday's attack.
"My government and the law enforcement agencies will do everything possible so that whoever committed this gruesome act is caught and given exemplary punishment," he said.
Doors locked
Witnesses in the church said the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "Graveyard of Christians - Pakistan and Afghanistan", before opening fire.
Survivors said the gunmen locked the doors and sprayed fire at the Protestant congregation who were using the Roman Catholic church of Saint Dominic's at the time.
Pleas for mercy were ignored, witnesses said.
No one has so far said they carried out the attack, but the local community has blamed pro-Taleban groups, who have held recent demonstrations in the town to denounce the US-led strikes on Afghanistan.
The area has a history of tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslim extremists, and hundreds of Muslims have died in sectarian violence over the years.
But Sunday's shooting, police said, is the first such attack on Christians in the region, which is near the border with India.
Some Christian neighbourhoods had, however, already stepped their security.
Our correspondent says extremist groups may be trying to portray the current Afghan crisis as a war between Christians and Muslims.
Christians make up about 1% of Pakistan's 120 million population.
In 1997, Muslim rioters in southern Punjab burned and looted hundreds of Christians' homes and ransacked 13 churches and a school, accusing some Christians of committing blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed. |
