Five Killed, Dozens Wounded From Iraqi Church Bombings

Two churches in northern Iraq were bombed on Tuesday, leaving five dead and over 40 wounded. (Photo: Ankawa.com)

Bombs exploded at two churches in Mosul, Iraq on Tuesday killing at least five people and injuring more than 40 others.

The Al Beshara Syrian Catholic Church was hit at 10:30 on Tuesday morning by a bomb placed on an outside wall of the building, while later in the afternoon two car bomb explosions occurred at the Al Gahera Syrian Orthodox Church, causing significant damage and casualties.

The attacks, suspected to have been done by Islamic extremists, comes less than three weeks after a bombing at St. Ephrem's Chaldean Church in the same city.

Northern Iraqi priest Fr. Bashar Warda said that the attacks brought great "fear and shock" to the Christians of the city during a time when they look forward to Christmas to "lift our spirits."

"Normally Christmas is a time when we lift our spirits with a number of festivities so you can imagine what the atmosphere is like here now," Warda told Aid to the Church in Need.

Warda reported that despite the attacks, Christmas preparations would continue undeterred.

Estimated at 3 percent of Iraq's 30 million large population, the Iraqi Christian community has dwindled since 2003's invasion by the United States which prompted an increase in Muslim extremist persecution. The United States plans to withdraw its 120,000 forces from the country completely by December 2011.

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