The price of disengagement

As Western forces withdraw from Iraq, Iraq’s ancient churches are being bombed on an almost daily basis according to NGO Middle East Concern.

On Saturday 11 July a church in western Baghdad was bombed. On Sunday 12 July five further churches in Baghdad were bombed and a Mosul church was bombed on Monday 13th.

Four people are confirmed dead in the deadliest of these bombings, in Baghdad on Sunday evening, including three Christians.

One source in Baghdad reported as many as 14 may have died. There are reports of many more injured, and of damage to church buildings.

A senior provincial government official in Kirkuk, a Christian, was shot and killed while driving to work on Sunday, the Christian sabbath. It is not yet known whether or not his murder was religiously motivated.

Christians in Iraq are concerned that this latest upsurge in sectarian violence demonstrates the continuing inability of government and security forces to quell the country’s violence, as Western forces begin to withdraw.

They are also concerned that the continuing violence will dissuade Iraqi Christians who have relocated elsewhere in the Middle East from returning home.

Iraqi Christians request our prayers.