Ten more Christians were reportedly killed in protests that were staged against the twin church bombings, which took place in Lahore on March 15, bringing the total death toll to over 25. As of Monday, four were killed by police officials while six more were killed by Muslim assailants, who decided to launch an attack on Christians who had gathered to protest in the city of Yohanabad.

The assailants, who were carrying metal rods, beat their victims to death while one woman reportedly drove her car over a man. Even as the police tried to intervene with tear gas, the situation kept growing worse, with several Christians seeking refuge in their own homes, behind locked doors. Others, however, continued to protest, as the demonstrations started to receive support from Christians across Pakistan.

The Christian protesters were reportedly carrying no weapons on Monday though those staging demonstrations the previous day were armed. Two suspects, who were linked to the twin church attacks, were lynched and burned before the protesters went on to block the city’s main roads, with some of them carrying clubs that were used to smash windows of cars and buses.

Christians in Pakistan have been subjected to many attacks in recent years, the most violent of them being the one that took place in Peshawar in September 2013 and led to the death of 115 people.

Wilson Chowdhry, chairperson of British Pakistani Christian Association, said his organization does not encourage the use of any violence and they want the crisis to be resolved peacefully instead. However, he also said for Pakistani Christians, this recent attack may have proven to be a step too far.

“There is a lot of hurt in the community, a lot of rage. They are still recovering from the incident in Peshawar,” Chowdhry said. “Christians in Lahore have been attacked before, and have reacted peacefully, but the city has never seen that many victims before. [Militants] have burned homes but not taken lives, this time they took lives.”

Sunday’s attacks were carried out minutes apart in Yohanabad, which is a majority-Christian suburban area in Lahore. St. John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church were attacked one after the other, right after their services took place. The attacks killed as many as 14 people and seriously injured at least 80 others. Taliban outfit Jamaat ul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attacks soon after.

Maryam Bibi, a parishioner at Christ Church, said, “As soon as the service finished I could hear firing and asked my mother to stay seated at the front of the church. Soon after there was blast at the gate and pieces of flesh and blood had sprayed across all of those in the church. Everywhere I looked there was broken window panes, blood, and quite morbidly, shoes were scattered across the blast site.”

British Pakistani Christians Association was quick to launch an appeal for those who suffered during the attacks.

Photo Credits: The Blaze