By Baghdadhope
"The Chaldean church of Saint George, in the district of Ghadeer, was attacked on Saturday by a stunning grenade, a sound bomb that did not cause victims but spread the panic caused by the huge noise produced. The other attacks occurred yesterday."
So Father Douglas Al Bazi explained to Baghdadhope an incongruity in the reports of the attacked churches. According to many news agencies the churches are 6 but a comparison beteween Father Douglas and Baghdadhope reached the number of 9 between Chaldean (6) and Syriac Orthodox (3) in Baghdad and Mosul:
Saint George (Ghadeer)
Saint Joseph Patron of Laborers (Nafaq al-Shorta)
Saint Jacob (Hay al-Asia - Dora)
Sacred Heart of Jesus (Garage Amane)
Virgin Mary (Palestine St.)
Saint John (Dora)
Saints Peter and Paul (Al-Sinaa St.)
Saint Matti (Ghadeer)
An unknown Syriac Orthodox church in Mosul
The fact that the first attack happened on Saturday worsens the situation. No matter what type of bomb was used. In these cases as in others, for example when the churches were attacked during the night, the purpose is not to kill but to spread terror. The deaths are, sorry to say, "collateral effects" of a plan not intended specifically to take their lives but to the survival of the community. The last news, however, is of three killed, two young Christian boys and a Muslim girl, and about 20 wounded in the attack to the church of Palestine St.
As for the other churches in Baghdad are not reported killed or wounded persons but damages still to be assessed while there are no other news about the church in Mosul.
The Patriarch of the Chaldean church, Mar Emmanuel III Delly, at the time of the attacks was in Amman before flying to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. In several interviews with Iraqi television such as Al Iraqiya and Al Sharqiya he regretted the events appealing to the tolerance of the Iraqi people toward the Christian brothers, citizens of the same state.
Baghdadhope will keep in contact with Iraq to report more detailed news. As for the church attacked in Mosul Father Rayan P. Atto, parish priest of Mar Qardagh church in Erbil, told to Baghdadhope that it is a Syriac Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Fatima, that there have been only material damages but also that it is difficult to confirm the piece of news because it is by now impossible to contact the priests in Mosul and because the village of Qaraqosh, near to Mosul, where the majority of the population is Syriac Catholic has been closed to external contacts for security reasons.
