Christians of Iraq
Contact Comments & Feedback Historical articles Historical pictures Photos of Bombed Churches Home Only this link has access to all News articles
|
|
|
Christians of Iraq
Contact Comments & Feedback Historical articles Historical pictures Photos of Bombed Churches Home Only this link has access to all News articles
----
Explosions target Christian churches in Iraq Monday, January 30, 2006
By PAUL GARWOOD
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Six co-ordinated car bombs and a roadside bomb went off near churches across the Iraqi capital and in Kirkuk, killing three people and wounding 17, police and interior ministry officials said.
Four car bombs went off near four churches in Baghdad's Karada area, while two bombs went off near two churches in the northern city of Kirkuk Sunday.
Three people died and 11 were wounded in the Kirkuk car bombs, police said.
Six more people were wounded in the Baghdad car bomb blasts, while a roadside bomb also went off close to a church in central Baghdad, but there were no casualties.
A relative holds a picture of an Iraqi boy as she grieves with others during a funeral in Kirkuk, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad January 30, 2006. The boy was among those killed during a bomb attack outside a church in Kirkuk yesterday. Two car bombs targeting churches in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least four people on Sunday, a police official said. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed
Relatives and friends carry the coffin of an Iraqi boy during a funeral in Kirkuk.
In a related case according to Elaph, an Arabic pager, Muslim students in Mosul University on January 29 attacked dozens of Christian students. This happened few days after a Danish newspaper published an insulting caricature drawing of Muslim prophet Mohammad. Muslim clerics in Mosul, under pressure from Islamic militias, issued fatwa (religious edict) calling their followers to "expel the local Christians whom they call Crusaders and infidels from the streets, schools, and institutions because they offended the person of the prophet in Denmark."
There is a suspicion that the Bombing of the Churches may also be related to the incident in Denmark . Islamic extremist when at war with the west often punish the local Christians as a mean of retaliation by falsely claiming that western countries are driven by relgious extremism as they are. Christians of Iraq in no way are responsible for what a paper in Denmark or another country will publish.Defining the Christians of Iraq Crusaders meaning invaders is untrue because they are the indigenous people of that country and were Christians seven centuries before the invasion of the Middle East by the Arabs who brought Islam to the region at the 7th century AD. At that time the majority of the Population in Mesopotamia was Christian Assyrian.
Another Report January 30, 06
BAGHDAD, Iraq Car bombs exploded in quick succession SundaynearfourChristian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy, killing three people and raising new concerns about sectarian tensions. At least 17 other people were killed in other violence around the country.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred within a half hour near two churches in Baghdad and two in Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north. The fifth bomb exploded about 50 yards from the Vatican mission in the capital.
Suspicion fell on Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, that have been responsible for massive car bombings andsuicideattacksagainst Iraqi Shiite civilians.
The U.S. military announced the death of an American soldier in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad on Saturday. At least 2,241 U.S. military personnel have died since the war began, accordingtoanAssociated Press count.
The attacks on Christian sites came at a time of rising sectarian tensions, including reprisal killings and raids, that threaten to complicate efforts to form a broad-based government following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
"This was a reaction from the al-Zarqawi people against Christianswhotheybelieve support the U.S. military in Iraq," senior Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Adeeb said. "Such acts are rejected by Shiites and Sunnis alike who have been living together with our Christian brothers in Iraq throughout history."
A prominent Sunni Arab politician, Naseer al-Ani, called the bombings "terrorist acts."
Three people died int he bombing at the Church of the Virgin in Kirkuk, police said. At least nine people were injured in the bombings, which caused little damage to the buildings.
The bombings are expected to raise fears among the country's Christian minority, about 3 percent of Iraq's 27 million people.
At least 12 people were killed in a series of church bombings in 2004.
Sheit women mourning the death of a relative in a bomb explosion
Vatican officials had no immediate comment.
U.S. officials are pressing the Iraqis to agree on a government that can win the trust of the Sunni Arabs, the minority community that forms the backbone of the insurgency. Such a government is considered essential if the United States and its international partners are to begin bringing their troops home this year.
However, neither the majority Shiites nor the minority Sunnis appear ready for major concessions in coalition talks. On Sunday, a key Sunni Arab politician accused Shiite-led security forces of pursuing a strategy of sectarian "cleansing" in Baghdad.
"Mosques and houses are empty because clerics and ordinary men are being chased as if there was a sectarian cleansing in Baghdad," Adnan al-Dulaimi told reporters. "Violence only breeds more violence. I demand that this sectarian sedition be stopped."
Al-Dulaimi, leader of the main Sunni bloc in the next parliament, also said he would oppose awarding the vital interior and defense ministries, which control state security forces, to Shiite religious parties.
Al-Dulaimi's comments followed a series of raids last week by Interior Ministry commandos into majority Sunni Arab neighborhoods in the capital. The government insists the raids are directed against insurgents who have targeted Shiite civilians as well as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and police.
On Saturday, the head of the Badr Brigade Shiite militia said Shiite religious parties will "never surrender" the interior and defense ministries. An alliance of Shiite parties won 128 of the 275 parliament seats last month - the largest single bloc.
On Sunday, bombings and ambushes killed eight policemen and a medic in attacks across Baghdad and in the northern cities of Baqouba and Beiji.
A massive car bomb killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded six more in Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Uja, about 75 miles north of Baghdad. It was unclear whether the attacks was linked to Saddam's trial, which resumed Sunday.
A former high-ranking general in Saddam's disbanded army, Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Idham, was assassinated near Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, police said. The motive for the attack was unclear.
U.S. soldiers shot dead three men wearing Iraqi police uniforms and captured a fourth during a gunfight in Kirkuk. No police identity cards were found, and Iraqi police Brig. Serhad Qadir said they were suspected insurgents disguised as policemen.
A Chaldean Assyrian woman prays at the Virgin Mary Church for victims in Sunday's church bombings, (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
An Iraqi soldier secures the scene of a car bomb in front of the Disciples Mar Putros and Mar Polos Orthodox Christian church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq.
Iraqi firefighters spray down the scene of a car bomb explosion in front of an Anglican church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
