Cross and bibles in flames in Baghdad at the start of Ramadan
AFP: 10/16/2004
BAGHDAD, Oct 16 (AFP) - The streets of Baghdad reverberated with shock and disbelief following a spate of attacks Saturday against five churches at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The five seemingly coordinated attacks caused no casualties but appeared to have struck Iraq's small Christian community to the core, highlighting once again their fragile existence in a predominantly Muslim country after a series of similar attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul in August that left at least 10 dead.
A few parishioners climbed over heaps of rubble in front of Saint George's, the worst hit in the attacks.
The church's interior was reduced to smouldering ashes as morning light streamed through two gaping holes on each side of the small Catholic temple.
Black soot covered the walls except for biblical scripture above the altar.
"Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you so sins would be forgiven," it read in Arabic.
A woman dressed in black broke down in tears near the altar where a massive wooden cross once stood, of which only a metal support now remains.
"What happened to the prayer books?" asked a white-haired man bitterly.
"All gone up in flames," answered the church's caretaker Nabil Jamil, his fingers sifting through a heap of charred bibles.
He said he was in a small room in the back of the building when a massive explosion rocked the church in Baghdad's central Karrada district on the east bank of the Tigris.
"I heard some noise in the front, so I got up to check it," he said.
"The guards opposite told me it was nothing so I went back to sleep and then the explosion went off shortly after that."
A Muslim neighbour, who did not wish to be identified, said he saw a man leave a package at the gate of the church before rushing back into a waiting car a few blocks away.
"I got up to pray and to have a bite," he said.
As is the tradition during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Friday for Sunnis and Saturday for Shiites, the faithful get up before dawn to pray and have their last meal, known as suhoor, before they start their fast which lasts until dusk.
"I feel shamed this would happen during Ramadan," said the man.
Muslims on the west side of Baghdad also expressed shock at another attack which targeted the Saint Thomas Syrian Orthodox church in the affluent Mansour area.
"I do not think an Iraqi who would do this," said Ahmed Nazem,with his wife stood nearby still in her slippers and night gown.
"If it was an Iraqi then he must be completely brainwashed because I see no reason or purpose for such a horrible act."
The facade of Saint Thomas was completely blown away in what appeared to be a drop-and-run attack similar to the one that targeted the four other churches.
Scraps of red velvet drapes that used to adorn the front windows lay under heaps of concrete.
"People, it is only stone, we will rebuild it again," said an elderly man who identified himself as Milad while labourers around him carried out pews and rolled-up carpets from inside the church.
Grief-stricken parishioners gathered in the courtyard, where a woman crossed herself before rushing in tears towards Dina Khalil, the priest's wife.
"I am fine, fine," said a tearful Khalil, who was with her husband at their home next to the church at the time of the blast.
She said she felt the whole house shake from the power of the blast which shattered all the windows.
A few blocks another church, Saint Joseph, was hit with a home-made bomb that caused minor damage to the facade.
"Muslims and Christians have been living here in harmony for hundreds of years," said Father Gabriel Shamami.
"I don't think Iraqis would do this especially during Ramadan."
Two other churches in the southern Doura district were also targeted with homemade bombs that caused some damage, according to Father Faris Toma of Saint Paul and Peter church in the same area.