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Coordinated Blasts Hit Iraqi Churches
I see Lashkar e-Jhangvi's arrived in Iraq...A series of coordinated bombings targeted churches in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul during evening services Sunday, wounding at least 20 people in the first attacks on Christian places of worship in Iraq's 15-month insurgency. The church attacks came amid a flurry of other bombings in and around the two cities that killed at least 10 Iraqis and an American soldier. The U.S. military confirmed two other explosions in Baghdad in the evening, but their target was not immediately clear. The church attacks in Baghdad appeared to be car bombs. The two blasts exploded just minutes apart outside two nearby churches — one Armenian and one Catholic — in the Karada neighborhood. Massive plumes of black smoke poured into the evening sky over the city as firefighters struggled to put out flames leaping from the front of the Armenian church and several blackened cars. "I saw injured women and children and men, the church's glass shattered everywhere. There's glass all over the floor," said Juliette Agob, who was inside the Armenian church during the first explosion. At nearly the same time, two blasts struck outside a church in Mosul and a third blast hit a bridge, Iraqi officials said. There was no immediate word on casualties. Posted by: Fred 2004-08-01 |
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