Iraqi Church, convent attacked

(November 27, 2009) Gunmen detonated bombs in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, destroying a church and damaging a convent. There were no reports of casualties but the Church of Saint Ephrem was entirely destroyed and the Mother House of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine suffered damages. Some 10 gunmen stormed the Church of Saint Ephrem in the western Jadida neighbourhood Thursday morning and cleared everyone from inside. They calmly proceeded to place explosives around the building and set them off, levelling the church. The attackers then went to Dominican Sisters convent, where they set of a second explosion. Father Yousif Thomas Mirkis, chief representative of the Dominican order in Iraq told AFP, “These attacks are aimed at forcing Christians to leave the country." Father Emil Shimoun Nona, the new-elected archbishop of Mosul fears the attacks will trigger another Christian exodus. He said Christians are losing trust and hope and they need prayers, help, and material and moral support. On Friday, Pope Benedict received in the Vatican the head of Iraq’s Chaldean rite Catholic Church, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad. Thousands of Christians fled Mosul last year because of violence that claimed the lives of 40 people from the community. Since the invasion of Iraq by the US in 2003, hundreds of Christians have been killed and several Iraqi churches attacked. A report this month by Human Rights Watch said minority groups in the north of the country, including Christians, have fallen victim to a struggle between Arabs and Kurds for control in several disputed districts.