ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's tiny Christian community, still reeling from a grenade attack that killed five people during a service two weeks ago, celebrated Easter Sunday under unprecedented security.
Gun-wielding policemen and other security personnel in plain clothes were out in force around churches in Islamabad and did not let anyone enter without a thorough search.
The International Protestant Church (IPC), the scene of the March 17 attack in which the wife and daughter of an American diplomat were among those killed, remained closed.
Policemen stood guard outside the damaged building and curtains could be seen still dangling out of the shattered windows.
All roads into the diplomatic district where the IPC and the fortified missions of the United States and other countries are located, were sealed off with barbed wire barricades.
The main Easter service was at St. Thomas church, where about 300 men, women and children sang hymns.
"The attack on the IPC church was a nightmare for us," Reverend Arley Leowanhe said in his sermon. "Today is Easter. It is a happy occasion but that nightmare still haunts us."
An Afghan man and a Pakistani woman also died in the hail of shrapnel when a man walked into the IPC and lobbed grenades at up to 70 worshippers.
Pakistani officials say they believe the badly mutilated body of the fifth victim, unclaimed for burial, was probably the attacker.
It was the second attack against Christians in mainly Muslim Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf threw his weight behind the U.S.-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
More than 15 people were killed in the worst single massacre of Christians in Pakistan's 54-year history on October 28 when six masked men burst into a church in the central city of Bahawalpur and sprayed the congregation with automatic rifles.
CHRISTIANS VOW COURAGE
But worshippers Sunday said they would not be cowed.
"I am very happy that our people are not worried. We should not be afraid of blasts because death can fall on us even when we are at home or on the road," said Doreen Dass, a Sunday school teacher at St. Thomas church.
Cinderella Arshad shared that feeling.
"I am not worried. Though two churches were attacked, we are not afraid. I'd feel lucky if I embraced death in church."
Reverend Irshad John said the number of worshippers in Pakistani churches had not fallen since the Islamabad attack.
"We appreciate the efforts of our government to provide us security," he said.
"Our church members and our staff workers were around with the police to recognize who is who and who is Christian and who has come for the service."
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion has centered on Islamic militants Musharraf has vowed to stamp out.
About 60 Islamic activists, half of them foreigners with suspected links to the al Qaeda militant network of Osama bin Laden, were rounded up in a series of raids in the central province of Punjab last week.
Pakistani newspapers said the Punjab raids were part of the investigation into the March 17 attack.