A series of bombings hit at least five Christian churches in Baghdad on Sunday killing at least four people, the American ambassador to Iraq narrowly escaped injury when a roadside bomb struck his convoy in Nasiriya in southern Iraq, and a senior Christian official has also been killed.While there have been numerous attacks on foreign diplomats, including several killings, this was believed to be the first direct attack on the United States ambassador since the war began in 2003.
"There was a bang and we went through a thick cloud of smoke," the ambassador, Christopher R. Hill told a reporter from USA Today who was traveling in a convoy behind the embassy’s. "We are all fine."
The bomb barely missed Mr. Hill’s armored sport utility vehicle and caused minor damage to another one, the USA Today newspaper reported.
In the New York Times report, to which Sam Dagher and Duraid Adnan contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Najaf, Iraq, the newspaper said no one claimed responsibility for the bombing and it was not clear on Sunday night whether it was specifically intended for Mr. Hill.
Reporting for the Times, Myers writes: "Adding to a spate of sectarian violence since American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities less than two weeks ago, the new attacks also raised doubts among many Iraqis about the ability of their own security forces to protect them."
Myers adds that Christians, "a beleaguered minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, have routinely faced sectarian attacks, forcing many to flee the country. The bombings on Sunday, though, appeared to be one of the largest single coordinated assaults against churches and Christian believers in Baghdad."
Myers reports the attacks began early on Sunday with homemade bombs placed near two churches in the neighborhood of Wahda and two others in Dora and Al Gadir, all in eastern Baghdad. Those bombings wounded at least 11 and caused minor damage to the churches.
Myers says that in the worst attack, a car bombed exploded just before dusk outside the Church of Mariam Al-Adra, or the Church of the Virgin Mary, part of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, in central Baghdad. The blast, which reverberated across the city, damaged the church and scorched cars around a park on Palestine Street. Those killed and wounded included Christians and Muslims.
"The terrorists don’t distinguish if they were Muslims or Christians," said Khodor Mohammed, 71, who was wounded in the back, crying as he spoke. "They are killing Iraqis. The blood of Christians and Muslims was mixed today."
Separately, says Myers, a senior Christian government official, Aziz Rizko Nissan, was shot and killed by gunmen using weapons with silencers in the volatile northern city of Kirkuk. It was not clear whether Mr. Nissan, who worked in the provincial government’s auditing department, was singled out for assassination because of his religious faith.
Myers commented: "The attacks were yet another series of attacks carried out since American combat forces largely withdrew from Baghdad and other cities on July 1 appeared to be aimed at stoking sectarian tensions and discrediting the government, the attacks have elicited scorn among Iraqis for their own security forces."
"The government does not do anything about these explosions even though the American Army got out of the cities," Hossain Ali, a college student said outside of the Church of the Virgin Mary. Referring to Iraq’s security services in the heavily secured government zone, he added, "They are just hanging out in the Green Zone and staring at us being killed."
Myers reports that even before Sunday’s violence, Iraq’s senior military commander, Lt. Gen. Babakir Zebari, warned that attacks would continue for years to come, even though he said that insurgents and other extremists were losing ground. Zebari spoke after meeting Iraq’s senior Shiite leader, Grand Ayatolloh Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, the Shiite holy city.
"Terrorists have few strongholds," Zebari said, "but they are dangerous. They will seize the chance from time to time to commit attacks. I expect those attacks will go on for the next one, two or three next years."
It its report, filed by Jomana Karadsheh, CNN today reported at least four people killed and 32 wounded as six Baghdad-area churches were bombed within 24 hours.
Haradesh writes: "The first bombing took place Saturday night at St. Joseph's church in western Baghdad, according to an Interior Ministry official. Two bombs placed inside the church exploded at about 10 p.m. No one was in the church at the time of the attack.
"Sunday afternoon, three bombs exploded outside churches, wounding eight civilians, the official said. The bombs detonated within a 15-minute span, between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. Two of the churches are in central Baghdad's al-Karrada district, and the third is in al-Ghadeer in eastern Baghdad.
"Sunday evening, a car bomb exploded outside a church on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad just after 7 p.m., the official said. Four people died, and 21 were wounded. And in southern Baghdad's Dora district, a bomb outside a church wounded three other civilians.
CNN says that according to video footage, most of the churches were damaged in the bombings.
The network states that one Christian Iraqi, interviewed outside Sacred Heart Church -- one of the two in al-Karrada -- said the bomb went off shortly before 5 p.m., as members were arriving for Sunday evening mass.
No one was hurt, Sabhan George told CNN, but the bomb damaged the church building and some cars outside.
CNN quotes George as saying he is concerned about the church bombings. If this continues, he said, "there will be no Christians left in Iraq."
According to the CNN report, St. Joseph's was one of six churches hit by coordinated bombings of Christian houses of worship in Baghdad and Mosul in 2004. The church is in the al-Jamiaa neighborhood of Baghdad, a former stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq. There have been recent reports of an increase in targeted attacks in the area.
Writing for CNN, Haradesh says many of Iraq's estimated 1 million Christians have fled the country after targeted attacks by extremists.
"In October, more than a thousand Iraqi families fled the northern city of Mosul after they were reportedly frightened by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists, who apparently ordered them to convert to Islam or face possible death. At least 14 Christians were killed in Mosul in the first two weeks of October," Haradesh reports.
A local police official told CNN that in a separate incident, gunmen shot and killed an official in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday morning, Using guns with silencers, the assailants opened fire on Rizko Aziz Nissan outside his home in central Kirkuk at 8:15 a.m.
CNN says Nissan was an Iraqi Christian, but the motives behind his killing were not immediately clear. Kirkuk is 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
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