Bombings and mortar attacks targeting Christians killed at least three people and wounded over two dozen in Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi security sources said.
Attackers detonated at least 14 roadside bombs across the Iraqi capital and a mortar round struck in the southern Doura district within a two-hour period, all apparently targeting Christians, an Interior Ministry source said, 10 days after a brazen assault on a Catholic cathedral that killed 52.
“These operations, which targeted Christians, came as a continuation of the attack that targeted the Salvation church,” the source said.
An Iraqi police source put the toll at three dead and at least 32 wounded in attacks. Some of the attacks began late on Tuesday, the source said. Both sources asked not to be identified.
Tensions have been running high since a March parliamentary election that produced no clear winner, leaving Iraq’s Shia, Sunni and Kurdish political factions jockeying for position in a new government and raising fears of renewed violence.
Sunni Islamist insurgents have claimed responsibility for a string of recent attacks that appeared aimed at reigniting the sectarian warfare that ravaged Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion and which began to abate three years ago.
Fifty-two hostages and police were killed on Oct. 31 in a raid on the Our Lady of Salvation Church in central Baghdad, prompting vows from the Iraqi government to step up security for Iraq’s Christian minority.
That attack was followed two days later by a series of explosions across mainly Shia areas in the city in which at least 63 people died.
Source: Khaleej Times