Iraq Christians bury their dead after more attacks

(December 31, 2010) Iraqi Christians on Friday buried their dead after fresh attacks hit the country's dwindling Christian community that had even toned down Christmas celebrations in fear of more violence. Father Mukhlis, a Catholic priest at Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation cathedral where over 50 people were killed on Oct. 31 during a siege by gunmen, said as many as 12 violent incidents occurred against Christian homes across the capital Thursday night. Police said militants targeted at least four Christian homes, killing two people in a combination of grenades and bomb attacks. The attacks were the first since al-Qaida-linked militants last week threatened a wave of violence against Christians in Iraq. Pope Benedict XVI has several times lamented the violence and discrimination against Iraq’s Christians, and in his message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace on Jan. 1st, he has made special mention of the "theatre of violence and strife" in Iraq and the deadly attack on Baghdad’s Syrian Catholic cathedral.