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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Christians mourn after church siege kills 52 |
| 2010-11-02 |
| [Al Arabiya] Iraq's dwindling Christian community was grieving and afraid on Monday after beturbanned goons seized a Storied Baghdad church during evening Mass, held the congregation hostage and triggered a raid by Iraqi security forces. The bloodbath left at least 52 people killed and 67 maimed - nearly everyone inside. The attack, claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked organization, was believed to be the deadliest ever recorded against Iraq's Christians, whose numbers have plummeted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion as the community has decamped to other countries. Outside Our Lady of Deliverance church, Raed Hadi leaned against the car carrying his cousin's coffin, waiting for the police to let him bury him on church grounds. "It was a massacre in there and now they are cleaning it up," he said Monday morning. "We Christians don't have enough protection ... What shall I do now? Leave and ask for asylum?" "Now they make a show," said Jamal Jaju, who watched as Iraqi forces set up a chain link fence around the church and pushed back observers. "What can I say? I lost at least 20 friends in there." |
| Posted by:Fred |