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=> Iraqi Christians targeted in spate of bombings at Baghdad churches
| Iraqi Christians targeted in spate of bombings at Baghdad churches |
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- Sunday, October 17 2004, 1:29:37 (CEST) from 69.14.127.173 - d14-69-173-127.try.wideopenwest.com  Commercial -  Windows XP -  Internet ExplorerWebsite: Website title: |
Iraqi Christians targeted in spate of bombings at Baghdad churches BAGHDAD : Iraq's tiny Christian community was targeted in a string of blasts at churches around Baghdad, while a medic was killed when a mortar round exploded outside a hospital. As chaos returned to the streets, US and Iraqi troops held firm to positions around the rebel hub of Fallujah, west of the capital, in the hunt for Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi -- the country's most wanted man who is blamed for some of the deadliest attacks here since last year's invasion. In an apparently coordinated attack on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, the church of Saint Joseph was hit at about 4:00 am (0100 GMT) followed by similar explosions over the next two hours outside four others. One of the buildings, the Roman Catholic St. George's church in the central Baghdad district of Karrada, was engulfed in flames, leaving the wood-built sanctuary completely charred. "My family and I fled from the fire," said the church's priest Nabil Jamil Sulaiman, wandering around the mangled debris. "Thanks God, there were no wounded or dead." On the wall inside the charred remains of the church could be made out some words from the Bible talking of the broken body of Jesus Christ. Monsignor Emmanuel Delly, the patriarch of the Chaldean Church, expressed the fears of his beleagured community, who were the victims of a similar attack at the start of August that left 10 people dead and 50 injured. "If the government is powerless, what can we do," Delly said. "We call on them (attackers) not to touch the holy sites." The violence resumed hours later when a mortar round struck the garden of a cardiac hospital in Baghdad, killing one medic and wounding nine other staff, said the deputy of the Ibn el-Bitar hospital, who declined to give his name. People rushed to the blast site to check up on relatives who worked at the hospital as police secured the area, an AFP reporter said. Just down the road was a similar scene of chaos after an artillery shell hit a car park between a hotel and St. George's Anglican church, officials said. About five cars were damaged in the blast, but no one was injured. It was unclear whether the shell had targeted the church. Iraq's Christian community -- which makes up just three percent of the majority Muslim population -- has been heavily targeted in the unrest that has swept Iraq following last year's US-led invasion and many have fled. Hoping to contain the violence ahead of nationwide elections planned for January, US and Iraqi officials pressed on with an operation to flush out pockets of resistance in the country. More than 1,000 US and Iraqi ground troops maintained a ring around the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah and continued to arrest suspects, said marine spokesman Lieutenant Lyle Gilbert. He refused to say if marines would enter the city, which has been the target of near nightly air raids by US planes in a bid to kill Zarqawi followers. Turning up the heat, Washington named the Jordanian-born militant's Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group a terrorist organization on Friday and slapped it with economic sanctions, along with three of its aliases. And a British military spokesman said the United States had asked Britain for its thoughts on sending troops on a "particular operation" in Iraq, but played down the significance by adding that this was a common occurrence. Britain's Channel Four television had reported that Washington wants London to deploy soldiers in more volatile parts of Iraq, as a new offensive on insurgent-held Fallujah looms. Zarqawi's group, which is allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, is accused of some of the deadliest car bombings and a string of kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq. An Iraqi Kurd working for the education ministry was shot dead Saturday by unknown gunmen in the northern city of Kirkuk, an education official told AFP. And US troops arrested Friday a Sunni Muslim cleric accused of preaching holy war (jihad), the military said. - AFP --------------------- |
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