By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, Jan 31, 2022: A Dominican priest was stabbed to death in Vietnam and a Protestant pastor was shot dead in Pakistan on the same day.

Father Giuse (Joseph) Trần Ngọc Thanh was killed in a knife attack in a mission area in Vietnam on January 29, LiCAS.news, a Church news agency in Asia, reported January 31.

Later on the same day, Pastor William Siraj of the Protestant Church of Pakistan, was shot dead in the Gulbahar neighborhood of Peshawar, Reuters news agency quoted police as saying.

Another person, Naeem Patrick, was wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on the duo as they were returning home from Sunday services.

Pastor Siraj was shot multiple times and died on the spot, while Patrick was wounded in the attack, the report said.

In Vietnam, Father Trần was attacked at a mission of Dak Mot, about 65 km northwest of Kon Tum.

The priest was hearing confessions before the last Mass of the evening when the attack happened, said a Facebook post on Ordo Praedicatorum.

The Diocese of Kon Tum said the priest was killed in his house, and that a suspect has been arrested.

Father Trần was born in 1981 in Ho Chi Minh City, and took his religious vows in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2018.

A funerary ceremony was held January 30 at the Dominican monastery in Kon Tum. His interment will be held on January 31 at St. Martin Chapel in Biên Hòa, LiCAS.news reported.

“Please unite to pray so that Father Guise’s soul may soon enjoy the glory of God,” the Diocese of Kon Tum said January 30.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, the police rushed to the spot and started the search operation. A strict security has been made at the entry and exit points to nab the culprit, the report said.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest on Pakistan’s small Christian minority that has been targeted by militants in recent years.

Police said they were reviewing the CCTV footage to locate the attackers, who escaped on motorcycles.

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, chairman Pakistan Ulema Council and Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Pakistan for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East, condemned the attack on the Christian priests.