14 bombs target Christian homes in Baghdad

A total of 14 bombs were set against different Christian homes in Baghdad late on Thursday, with 10 going off and killing two Christians and wounding 16 others, an interior ministry official said Friday.

"Two Christians were killed and 16 wounded" by the 10 bombs that exploded, while security forces were able to carry out controlled detonations of four other devices, the official said.

The only deadly attack was in the central district of Al-Ghadir, where a home-made bomb exploded at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), killing the two Christians and wounding three others.

Most of the 14 bombs, which targeted Christian homes in a total of seven different areas of the city, were in Karrada in central Baghdad.

Three devices wounded three Christians in the area, while all four of the controlled detonations were also in Karrada.

Another targeted a house in Al-Ilam neighbourhood in southern Baghdad, wounding one person; two bombs wounded four people in Dora in the south of the city and one bomb in Saidiya, also in the south, wounded two people.

Another device targeted a Christian home in Yarmuk in western Baghdad, wounding one, and a house in Khadra, also in the western part of the city, was also targeted, with another bomb wounding two people.

The wave of attacks comes almost two months to the day after an October 31 attack by militants on Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad, which left 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security forces members dead.

Ten days after the church massacre, a string of attacks targeting the homes of Christians in Baghdad killed six people and wounded 33 others.
Threats have also been made against Iraqi Christians.

Chaldean Catholic archbishop Monsignor Louis Sarko in Kirkuk said on December 21 that he "and 10 other Christian personages received threats from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq."

A preliminary report released on Thursday by Iraq Body Count, a Britain-based monitoring group, said that the number of Iraqi civilians killed in violence in 2010 was set to be the lowest since the 2003 US-led invasion.

However, it also noted that attacks remain common across the country.
 

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