Reply #24: Update: 15 killed in Iraqi church blasts

[leftchick]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=557515§ion=news


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BAGHDAD/MOSUL (Reuters) - Car bombs have exploded outside at least five Christian churches in Iraq, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more in an apparently coordinated attack timed to coincide with evening prayers.

"We are expecting a huge number of casualties," an Interior Ministry source told Reuters on Sunday, saying there had been four blasts at churches in Baghdad and two in the northern city of Mosul. Police in Mosul said they knew of just one church attack there.

The Vatican condemned the blasts -- the first attacks on churches during the 15-month insurgency -- echoing concerns among Iraqis that they aimed to inflame religious tensions.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber drove into the car park at a Chaldean church in southern Baghdad before detonating his vehicle, killing at least 12 people as worshippers left the building, witnesses said.