Iraq attacks kill seven, hit Christian sites

BAGHDAD (AFP) – A spate of attacks in Iraq killed seven people and struck a church and a convent on Thursday, with one bomb at a busy market claiming three lives as shoppers stocked up for a Muslim holiday.

Two home-made bombs exploded in the market in Mussayib, 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, killing three men and wounding 28 people, including two women and two children.

The bombs struck at around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), police said, and came as food markets were bustling ahead of the first day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, on Friday.

Separately, a car bomb at a taxi and bus station in Yusufiyah, south of Baghdad, killed one man and wounded 10 people, police said.

Both towns lie in a confessionally mixed region dubbed the Triangle of Death because of the frequency of attacks during the worst of the insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

In the town of Saadiyah, 125 kilometres (80 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a Kurdish politician was killed and one of his guards wounded when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb.

Abdul Rahim Agha Amir, the deputy director of the local office of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was on his way home at the time of the attack, an official in Diyala province's security operations command said.

Thursday's sixth victim died when a magnetic "sticky bomb" attached to his car exploded on a highway towards the east of the capital. A passenger was wounded.

In the south Baghdad neighbourhood of Saidiyah, a sticky bomb attached to a minibus killed one person and wounded three, police said.

In the main northern city of Mosul, a church and a convent were bombed, with both targets severely damaged but without any casualties, religious leaders said.

One of the attacks hit the St Theresa Convent of Dominican nuns in the western Jadida (New Mosul) district, the chief representative of the Dominican order in Iraq, Father Yousif Thomas Mirkis, said.

"These attacks are aimed at forcing Christians to leave the country," he told AFP, noting that the bomb had been placed inside the convent grounds and caused damage to the building.

Another bomb struck the Church of St. Ephrem in the same Mosul district, causing major damage to the Chaldean place of worship, Patriarchal Vicar George Basman said.

"We cannot pray there," he said, referring to the damage. "There were no casualties because it was a working day."

Last year, thousands of Christians fled Mosul in the face of violence that claimed the lives of 40 people from the community.

Since the US-led invasion, hundreds of Christians have been killed and several churches attacked.

A report this month by Human Rights Watch said minority groups in the north of the country, including Christians, have fallen victim to a struggle between Arabs and Kurds for control of several disputed districts.

Although violence nationwide has dropped dramatically compared to 18 months ago, attacks remain common in Mosul and in Baghdad.

A total of 410 people, including 343 civilians, were killed in violence last month.