“In a carefully calculated terrorist attack on Sunday, July 12th, seven churches suffered bombardment by improvised explosive devices, bombs, and cars loaded with explosives,” the WSCF said in a statement. “The perpetrators planned these attacks to take place while the faithful celebrated the Mass to maximize the pain they could inflict; eight people died and more than 32 people were injured.”
A number of different Christian traditions were hit in the attack said the students in their statement made available on August 1 and signed by the student federation’s chairperson, the Rev. Horacio Mesones and its general secretary, the Rev. Michael Wallace.
In one of the first attacks, two bombs hit St Joseph’s Chaldean Church on July 12, and then in the afternoon other churches were attacked with explosive devices. These included the Heart Chaldean Church, St Petrus and Polus Syraic Orthodox Church, St Guirguis Chaldean Church, and St Matthew’s Syriac Orthodox Church.
Later that day, perpetrators attacked the Virgin Mary Chaldean Church with a car bomb. The following day, July 13, the Virgin Fatima Syriac Catholic Church, a church in Mosel, in the north of Iraq, was also targeted. As a result, the Iraqi police deployed units to guard the churches.
The nature of the attacks followed a pattern targeting Iraqi Christians periodically since the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003. The statement cited an attack on August 1, 2004, when five churches were attacked by car bombs, but said not enough real actions were being taken to stem them.
“As usual there is not any concrete reaction from the government, which is supposed to be responsible for security and is still incapable of preventing these attacks,” noted the statement by the Geneva-based students’ grouping.
The statement added, “The acts of violence perpetrated on July 12th were carefully organized and planned, with the intention of spreading terror and panic amongst the Christians who are persevering in their churches. Christians in Iraq have received very little media attention, although it has been documented by the United Nations that they have disproportionately been the targets of violence and disproportionate exile since 2003.”
The World Student Christian Federation urged those who “believe in peace and justice to break the seal of silence regarding the attacks on the Christians in Iraq.”
