IRAQ: Iraqi Christians speak of recent attacks on Christian targets which killed four people and wounded more than 30

Record ID: 353395

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraqi Christians speak of recent attacks on Christian targets which killed four people and wounded more than 30
  • Date: 14th July 2009
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 13, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF VIRGIN MARY CHURCH IN PALESTINE STREET IN EASTERN BAGHDAD CHURCH/ CROSS ON CHURCH ROOF VARIOUS OF STATUE OF VIRGIN MARY PRAYING CANDLES BISHOP SHLEMON WARDUNI BAGHDAD, AN ASSISTANT TO THE HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHALDEAN CHURCH IN IRAQ, PRAYING EXTERIOR OF MOSQUE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BISHOP SHLEMON WARDUNI BAGHDAD, A
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8VS97G5O8A8EKY5HR49F9EZ9F
  • Story Text: An Iraqi bishop on Monday (July 13) called on Musliam and Christians in Iraq to unify amid a series of militant attacks on Christian targets across the country.
    On Sunday (July 12), bombs exploded outside five Christian churches across Baghdad, in what appeared to be a coordinated strike that killed four people and wounded more than 30, Iraqi police said.
    In the worst attack, a car bomb exploded near a church on eastern Baghdad's Palestine Street, killing four people and wounding 21 on Sunday evening. A police source said at least eight Christians were amongst the wounded.
    Bishop Shlemon Warduni, an assistant to the Head of the Catholic Chaldean Church in Iraq, called for Iraqis to unify to defeat their enemy.
    "My message to all of my Iraqi brothers is to reconcile, to be united. The power lies in unity. We will defeat our enemy with unity and to have no enemy is the best thing for all. I call on my Christian brothers to forgive and put love in their hearts, this is a lesson from Jesus Christ, that love is for all," the bishop said.
    Warduni blamed the government for the attacks, saying they fail to offer protection to Iraqi churches despite continuous warning of new attacks.
    "We have told some of the responsible bodies that our churches would be targeted again, but we do not know why we do not get any response. Maybe due to (other) responsibilities or shortages of the cadre but this is not a reason to leave our churches without protection," Warduni added.
    Iraq's Christians, believed to number about 750,000, are a small minority in a mainly Muslim country of about 28 million people. Christians have sporadically been targeted, mostly in Baghdad and Mosul. Many of whom fled abroad.
    Officials say that, while there was no curfew in Baghdad, Iraqi security forces had stepped up measures to protect religious sites in the capital, which are frequent targets for militants hoping to stoke sectarian tensions.
    The ethnically-mixed Iraqi city of Mosul imposed a curfew on vehicles in Christian neighbourhoods on Monday (July 13), responding to a spate of bomb attacks targeting churches in Baghdad the previous day, police said.
    The curfew mostly affecting suburbs on the outskirts will be lifted at 2pm (1100 GMT) on Monday. It was imposed to prevent similar bombings around the northern city, still Iraq's most violent and where most of the country's Christians live.
    Thomas, an Iraqi Christian, accused insurgents of attacking ordinary poor people.
    "We have found children under wreckage of cars, their bodies were charred. What did those (militants) get from such a coward act? What did those children and women do? They are simple and poor people who came here to pray. They were hit by fire when they left," he said.
    The sectarian violence that nearly tore Iraq apart in 2006 and 2007 has faded but militants still carry out attacks.
    Some 2,000 families, an estimated 12,000 people, fled Mosul after a campaign of threats and attacks on Christians there in October last year, but many have since returned.
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