Worshipers Targeted at Christmas Services in Baghdad

BAGHDAD — At least 26 people were killed and 38 others wounded on Wednesday when a car bomb exploded in a parking lot near St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in a southern neighborhood of Baghdad, according to police and medical officials. 

The bomb detonated at the end of Christmas prayers as worshipers were leaving the church in Dora, the officials said. The victims, most of them Christians, included women and children, as well as a number of police officers posted to guard the church. 

A few minutes before the church bombing, and barely half a mile away, a series of three other explosions in a market in an Assyrian Christian neighborhood left 11 people dead and 22 wounded.

Khaled Yacoub, a parishioner at St. John’s, said he had not gone to the church for a long time out of fear, but decided to attend Christmas services with his wife and two children after hearing assurances that he would be safe. “During the Mass, we heard explosions nearby,” he said. The priest said he would shorten the liturgy so the worshipers could leave early. While taking pictures in the church garden with his children, Mr. Yacoub said, he heard a huge explosion in the parking lot as worshipers were walking to their cars. 

“People were running around,” Mr. Yacoub said. “I caught my kids and entered the church. They were crying.” A woman in the church who had been wounded in her legs was asking for help, he said. 

He said, weeping: “The priest was talking about peace. He told us that we have to be Iraqi before Christians, and we must love each other.” 

His wife, Sahar Yousif, said: “I wasn’t encouraging the Christians to leave the country, but today am rethinking. I do not know who was behind this targeting, but we will not believe the words of brotherhood and peace and coexistence in Iraq anymore.” 

Iraqi security forces said they were providing extra security at churches on Christmas and were searching those entering. One police officer stationed near St. John’s said he did not know how the bomb-rigged car made its way into the church parking lot. 

Many Christians living in Baghdad and other provinces traveled in recent days to the Iraqi Kurdistan region to celebrate Christmas and the new year, fearing just this sort of attack. 

In other sectarian violence , six Shiite pilgrims were killed and 11 others wounded when gunmen attacked their bus on a highway southeast of Baghdad. An improvised explosive device hit Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing five and wounding 11, according to the police. 

Credit: nytimes