Feed: Iraqi attacks on Christians condemned by US, EU - AggScore: 13.0

Iraqi attacks on Christians condemned by US, EU

---

blockquoteemThere were attacks on Christians during the Christmas seasonin other predominately Muslim nations including Afghanistan and Egypt. An Egyptian government investigationis currentlyunderway into the New Years Eve bombing that killed 21 Christian worshipers and injured 70 exiting a church in Alexandria. emblockquotecaption id alignalignleft width186 caption The number of Christians in Arab nations continues to decline due to Muslim violence. Photo Daily Mailimg srchttpcdn2b.examiner.comsitesdefaultfilesstyleslargehash62a962a99dd1dfb76a079482c3b4a0d0b293.jpg alt width186 height128 captionThe United States government condemned the violence against Christians andurged the Iraqigovernment to increase efforts toprotect Christians and their churches from terrorist attacks. The U.S. State Department issued itscondemnation after Iraqi government officialsin Baghdadreleased a statement that said15 bombs were placed around homes in Christian areas of Baghdad. Eleven of the 15bombs exploded, according to US intelligence sources.divSyriacChristians have lived in the Muslimdominated regionfor centuries andare buta small minority in countriessuch as Lebanon,Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Turkey.During the Christmas season, aprotest marchwasorganized in the wake of several violent attacks against the Christian community in Iraq, a segment of the populationthatfell from about1.5 million toonly 400,000 over the past decade.divAs previously reported in NewswithViews.com, at least 52 Iraqi Christians were killed and over 60 injured in a terrorist inspired bloodbath at Baghdads Our Lady of Deliverance Catholic Church. U.S. special forcestroops, together with Iraqi security forces, launched arescueoperation to free as many ofthe Christians being heldhostage by their terrorist captors as possible.The Al Qaedalinked Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility and threatened to exterminate Iraqi Christians. This shadowy jihad terror network justified the savagery on religious grounds, claiming that the church was an obscene nest of the polytheists infidels and a base for their struggle against the religion of Islam.We call on the Government of Iraq to redouble its efforts to protect Christians and apprehend the terrorists who are behind these acts, said Mark C. Toner, Acting State Department Spokesman, adding, We condemn the violence against Christians carried out overnight by terrorists in Iraq.According to US police advisors working with Iraqi cops,a husband and wifewere killed when they opened a bag they found at the entrance to their home and it exploded.Virtually every political bloc and major religious leader in Iraq have denounced attacks on Christians and stressed the centrality of Christians in the fabric of Iraqi society, Toner said in a statement.We commend the Government of Iraq for increasing its security measures to protect Christian communities since the October 31 suicide bombing attack at Our Lady of Salvation Church, urged Toner in his statement.Earlier, Jerzy Buzek,the currentpresident of the European UnionParliament, calledon the Iraqi government to make sure Christians in Iraq enjoy the same protection and status as Shiite and Sunni Muslims.The European Parliament is very concerned about these developments and is a strong defender of human rights, including freedom of religion President Buzek said in an EUstatement.Wewillmonitor the situation closely and adopted a number of resolutions to try to draw international attention to the plight of Christian minorities, Buzek added.There were attacks on Christians during the Christmas seasonin other predominately Muslim nations including Afghanistan and Egypt. An Egyptian government investigationis currentlyunderway into the New Years Eve bombing that killed 21 Christian worshipers and injured 70 exiting a church in Alexandria.