December 27, 2013 - Militants in Iraq targeted Christians in three separate Christmas
Day bombings in Baghdad, killing at least 37 people, officials said Wednesday. In
one attack, a car bomb went off near a church in the capital's southern Dora neighborhood,
killing at least 26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said. Earlier, two
bombs ripped through a nearby outdoor market simultaneously in the Christian section
of Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21, the officer said. The Iraq-based head
of the Chaldean rite Catholic Church, Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako said the parked
car bomb exploded after Christmas Mass and that none of the worshippers were hurt.
He said he didn't believe the church was the target. There was no immediate claim
of responsibility for the attacks, but Iraq's dwindling Christian community, which
is estimated to number about 400,000 to 600,000 people, often has been targeted by
al-Qaida and other insurgents who see the Christians as heretics. The U.S. Embassy
in Baghdad condemned the attacks in a statement. ``The Christian community in Iraq
has suffered deliberate and senseless targeting by terrorists for many years, as have
many other innocent Iraqis,'' the statement read. ``The United States abhors all such
attacks and is committed to its partnership with the government of Iraq to combat
the scourge of terrorism.'' Along with Christians, other targets include civilians
in restaurants, cafes or crowded public areas, as well as Shiites and members of the
Iraqi security forces, in an attempt to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government
and stir up Iraq's already simmering sectarian tensions. Wednesday's bombings came
amid a massive military operation in Iraq's western desert as authorities try to hunt
down insurgents who have stepped up attacks across Iraq in the past months, sending
violence to levels not seen since 2008. The Christmas Day attacks brought the total
number of people killed so far this month in Iraq to 441. According to United Nations
estimates, more than 8,000 people have been killed since the start of the year. (Source:
AP)