Iraq’s Ayat Sistani flays Church bombings; Turk executed

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: Iraq's spiritual leader Ayatullah Sayyed Ali As-Sistani on Monday condemned the coordinated car bombings that were timed for Sunday evening church services in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul as “hideous crimes”, calling for national unity to quash the violence.

The attacks on five churches which killed 11 people marked the first major attacks on Iraq's minority Christians since the start of a 15-month insurgency.

“In the criminal campaign targeting Iraq's unity, stability and independence, a number of churches were targeted in Baghdad and Mosul that resulted in scores of innocent casualties,” said a statement from the office of Ayatullah As-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf.

“We denounce and condemn those terrible crimes... We should all be working together as a government and a people in order to put an end to the attacks against Iraqis,” said the statement.

“We stress the need to respect the rights of Christians in Iraq and those of other religious faiths and their right to live in their home, Iraq, peacefully.”

Meanwhile, other Iraqi Muslim and Christians leaders denouncing the bombing resolved to stand united.

Emmanuel Delly, the patriarch of the Chaldean church, the largest Christian denomination in Iraq, appealed for a united front. He said: “Christians and Muslims must stand together for the good of Iraq because we are one family.”

In another development, a group linked to Al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab Az-Zarqawi executed a Turkish hostage. In response to the killing and a wave of kidnappings of Turkish drivers, a Turkish truckers' group said it would stop transporting goods to US forces in Iraq.

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