Iraqi Christians flee homes after fresh Baghdad attacks
Bombings in Baghdad late Tuesday and early Wednesday targeted Christians, killing at least four just 10 days after more than 50 Christians were killed by Al Qaeda-linked gunmen who stormed a church during Sunday mass.
People inspect the scene of a bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 10. Iraqi Christian families flee their homes, after a wave of attacks.
Khalid Mohammed/AP
Baghdad
A wave of bombings and mortar attacks struck Christian areas across Baghdad Wednesday, sending families fleeing their homes a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged the government would protect them.
Interior Ministry officials said improvised bombs and a car bomb were detonated near the homes of Christians in at least seven neighborhoods in Baghdad late Tuesday and early Wednesday, killing at least four people and wounding more than 16.
The bombings, which came 10 days after more than 50 Christians were killed by Al Qaeda-linked gunmen who stormed a church during Sunday mass, have sown panic in the close-knit community.
Some fled their homes to seek refuge at the very church which was attacked on Oct 31.
“We were so afraid – we left without taking anything,” says Umm Danny, surrounded by her three children, a niece, and a nephew in the church hall of Our Lady of Salvation in central Baghdad. She said they hear explosions so often in their south Baghdad neighborhood of Dora they didn’t think anything of it until one detonated on their block near the home of a particularly devout Christian family.
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