Christians targeted in Christmas Day bombing in Iraq

A bomb in a parked car went off while worshippers were leaving a church in the Doura district of southern Baghdad after finishing prayers, police sources said.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least 10 people were killed in three attacks that targeted police and Shi’ite pilgrims, police said.

Ahmed Edan, a policeman on duty in the area of the attacks, said the sound of the first of the two explosions caused worshippers to leave the church.

“A car parked near the church exploded when the families were hugging each other goodbye before leaving. The blast was powerful,” he said.

“Bodies of women, girls and men were lying on the ground covered in blood. Others were screaming and crying while they were trying to save some of their wounded relatives.”

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad, which also wounded 52 people.

Christian community

Violence in Iraq has risen to its worst levels in more than five years as hardline Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda step up attacks on the Shi’ite-led government o Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and anyone seen as supporting it. Many thousands have been killed in attacks this year.

The minority Christian community has been a target of attacks by al Qaeda militants in the past, including a 2010 attack on a church that killed dozens of people.

Two bombs also went off in a crowded market in a separate, mostly Christian area in Doura, killing another six people and wounding 14, police and medics said.

A series of car bombs, shootings and suicide attacks killed scores of Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims in the week before the Shi’ite holy day of Arbaeen, which coincided with Christmas Eve this year.

Al Qaeda-linked militants have stepped up attacks on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government and anyone seen as supporting it in recent months. More than 8,000 people have been killed this year, according to the United Nations.

Car bombs, shootings and suicide attacks killed scores of Shi’ite pilgrims in the week before the Shi’ite holy day of Arbain, which coincided with Christmas Eve this year.

On Wednesday, a bomb struck a minibus in southern Baghdad carrying pilgrims back from the Shi’ite holy city of Kerbala, killing three and wounding eight, police and medics said.

To the west of Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen killed three policemen on patrol, police sources said.

A bomb exploded near a football pitch in the town of Ishaqi, 100 km north of the capital, killing four people, including two policemen, and wounding eight, police said.