http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101111/world-news/baghdad-ch\ ristians-in-line-of-fire <http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101111/world-news/baghdad-c\ hristians-in-line-of-fire> Thursday, 11th November 2010 Baghdad Christians in line of fire AFP
Destroyed vehicles yesterday, in a mainly Christian neighbourhood of central Baghdad, following a spate of bomb attacks on Christian homes. Photo: Ali Al Saadi/AFP A string of anti-Christian bombings has cost six more lives in the wake of a Baghdad church bloodbath, sowing panic in Iraq's 2,000-year-old minority yesterday, many of whom now want to flee. "Since Tuesday evening, there have been 13 bombs and two mortar attacks on homes and shops of Christians in which a total of six people were killed and 33 injured," a defence ministry official said. "A church was also damaged." The attacks come less than two weeks after 44 Christian worshippers, two priests and seven security personnel died in the seizure of the Baghdad church by Islamist gunmen and the ensuing shootout when it was stormed by troops. On November 3, Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the hostage-taking at the capital's Syrian Catholic cathedral and warned it would step up attacks on Christians. The UN Security Council said it was "appalled by, and condemned in the strongest terms, the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq, including today's." The campaign of violence against Christians "potentially poses a threat to diversity in the Middle East, which was one of the fundamental bedrocks of stability," said British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, reading the council statement. French ambassador Gerard Araud said Al-Qaeda's bomb and shooting attacks were part of "a deliberate will to destroy the Christian community." As Christians converged on their churches yesterday to seek counsel from their religious leaders, the capital's Syrian Catholic archbishop made an emotional appeal for western countries to come to their rescue. "It would be criminal on the part of the international community not to take care of the security of the Christians," Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka said inside the church targeted on October 31 where he tried to console his flock. "Everybody is scared," he said. "People are asking who is going to protect them, how are they going to stay on in Iraq. We are trying to encourage them to stay patient." Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone described the latest attacks as "very painful." The protection of Iraqi Christians is an issue that "we hope... will be taken into serious consideration" by the Baghdad government, Italian news agencies quoted him as saying. The scarred Syrian Catholic cathedral in the central district of Karrada has become a focus of the fears of Christian families. "For the past two years now, my wife has been trying to persuade me to leave the country but I didn't agree," said 42-year-old labourer Raed Wissam from the Dora district of south Baghdad. "Today, I feel sure she's right because I don't want to feel guilty if something bad happens to one of my children." Mr Wissam said he was woken up at 6 a.m. by an explosion. "I ran up to the roof to see what was going on and I heard three more blasts, with three Christian homes targeted. My two children wept." Emmanuel Karim, a 27-year-old IT worker, was about to go to work from his home in Camp Sara, central Baghdad, when a bomb exploded. The apparent target was the car of his uncle, who was among those killed on October 31. "Fifteen minutes later, a second bomb exploded, killing a neighbour who was trying to put out the fire in the car... He was a Muslim. He was my friend," said Mr Karim, fighting back the tears. He said the faithful were gathering at churches to try to join the Christian exodus which has been picking up pace since the 2003 invasion of now violence-plagued Iraq, where their community's roots date back two millenia. Monsignor Pius Kasha, also of the church in the hostage-taking at the end of last month, said a four-month-old baby was among three people wounded in bombings of Christian homes in Baghdad's Mansur district late on Tuesday. <http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101111/world-news/baghdad-c\ hristians-in-line-of-fire> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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