Baghdad's Christians came under attack again Wednesday when a coordinated series of roadside bombs blew up in predominantly Christian neighborhoods, killing five people. The blasts came less than two weeks after insurgents besieged a church and killed 68 people in an assault that drew international condemnation.
Police said at least 11 roadside bombs went off within an hour in three predominantly Christian areas of central Baghdad. Four blasts hit houses belonging to Christians and two mortar rounds struck Christian enclaves in the southern predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora. Two bombs planted in deserted Christian homes in western Baghdad destroyed two houses.
It was the third attack targeting Christians since the church siege on Oct. 31. Late Tuesday, a series of bombs hit three empty houses belonging to Christians in western Baghdad but no one was hurt.
An al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for the church attack and threatened more violence against Iraq's Christian community.
The threat left many Christians in the country wondering whether it was time to flee their homeland.
"We were terrified by the explosions," said Juleit Hana, a 33-year-old Christian who lives in one of the neighborhoods targeted Wednesday. She was having breakfast with her daughter when she heard the bombs go off. She vowed to leave the country.
"It's not worth staying in a country where the government is not able to protect you even when you are sitting in your house," she said.
The new attacks struck as Iraq's minority Christian community was still in shock over the massacre at Baghdad's main Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Salvation. It was the worst attack against the Christian minority since the 2003-U.S. led invasion that set the stage for fierce sectarian fighting between Shiite and Sunni Muslim sects, which killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Church officials said Wednesday that 56 Christians had died in the church massacre. Police officials said 12 others also died.
Security was beefed up around churches in Baghdad after the massacre, possibly pushing the militants to seek easier targets, such as Christian homes. Layers of police protect most Shiite shrines in Iraq, and as a result, militants began targeting Shiite pilgrims on their way to visit the shrines.
Sunni Islamic militants such as al-Qaida consider both Shiites and Christians to be nonbelievers. They have also questioned whether Iraq's Christians are loyal to Christian countries in the West or to Iraq as a way to justify their attacks.
Iraq's top Catholic prelate, Chaldean Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly has encouraged the remaining 1.5 million Christians to stay in the country and called on the authorities for more protection. Catholic officials estimate that more than 1 million Christians fled Iraq since Saddam Hussein's regime fell.
