The Christian victims of terrorist attacks in Pakistan were martyrs to their faith, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin 
Welby (pictured) has said.
He described the suicide bombing of a church in Pakistan which killed at least 80 people as “appalling” and said the victims were “martyrs”.
However, the Anglican church leader said he had prayed for both the victims and gunmen of the Nairobi shopping mall attack which killed at least 67 in Kenya, the Daily Express reports.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The World At One, Reverend Welby said: “I think Christians have been attacked in some cases simply because of their faith.
“I think it is true to say in All Saints Peshawar that we have seen more than 80 martyrs in the last few days.
“They have been attacked because they were testifying to their faith in Jesus Christ by going to church and that is outside any acceptable expression in any circumstances for any reason of religious differences.”
Archbishop Welby said: “As Christians, one of the things is that we pray for justice, we’re deeply committed to justice and particularly the issues around the anger that comes when there’s this sort of killing but we’re also called, as Jesus did at the cross, to pray for those who are doing us harm.”
The suicide bombers from the Pakistan attack are believed to be part of a Taliban faction that vowed to kill non-Muslims until America stop their drone strikes.
Archbishop Welby also attacked Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. He said: “”The laws were brought in some time ago and their application varies from time to time but they have been often used in ways that seem to us to be unjust and targeting minorities, and being used as an excuse to attack minorities.
“And it’s in these sorts of areas that we call on the government and the security forces to ensure that all people are treated equally under the law.”