Three killed in church bomb blasts

Militants detonated car bombs in quick succession today near two churches in southern Baghdad after sundown, killing at least three people and injuring 52 others, according to the US military and police.

The first blast exploded near St Georges Church in the southern Doura neighbourhood at about 6.25pm (15.25 Irish time), the US military said.

Witnesses reported that 18 people were slightly injured in the explosion, which ripped a huge crater in the ground. The burned out remains of a car were seen nearby.

A neighbour who only identified himself as Qusai said he saw armed men in several cars approach the church from every direction.

“They were wearing police uniforms and asked us to leave the area. We saw them approach the church’s door. When we went inside, we heard an explosion,” he said.

The second car bomb detonated minutes later, less than a mile away from the first blast, outside the St Matthew Church, leaving three people dead and 34 others wounded, said a policeman on the scene who declined to give his name.

Church guard Khalaf Enad, 40, said he saw a group of masked men driving up in a pickup truck in front of the church.

“They were all armed. They quickly poured out of the car, pointed their weapons at me and said ‘Get in.’ They opened fire for over a minute and then I heard a big explosion.”

The blast gouged a crater over four yards wide and about a yard and half deep.

Deacon Matti Qeryaqos, 45, who lives nearby, said the explosion shattered church windows and blew the doors off their hinges, collapsing the outer wall.

He said there was no service at the church at the time of the blast and that the casualties were mostly people from nearby houses.

“If this happened yesterday there would have been a huge disaster.”

Police sealed off the area and fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowd, said another witness, Lyon Emad Elias, whose home faces the church.

A US military spokesman condemned the attacks.

“These are not military operations targeting military objectives. These are simply terrorists attacking innocent people ... innocent Iraqis,” said Lt Col James Hutton, the chief spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division.