Hostages freed in bloody ending to church siege

Islamic militants held around 120 Iraqi Christians hostage for nearly four hours in a church before security forces stormed the building and freed them, ending a stand-off that left many dead.

Security officials said the militants, allegedly linked to al Qaida in Iraq, were on the phone with Iraqi authorities demanding the release of imprisoned female fighters when the security forces attacked.

The stand-off began at dusk yesterday when the militants attacked the nearby Iraqi stock exchange, officials said. Police then chased the insurgents toward the Our Lady of Deliverance Church – one of Baghdad’s main Catholic places of worship.

Worshippers inside were listening to a bible reading when the gunmen burst in.

Parishioner Marzina Matti Yalda said: “As we went outside the hall to see what was happening, gunmen stormed the main gate and they started to shoot at us.

“Many people fell down, including a priest, while some of us ran inside and took shelter in a locked room. We were packed together as we waited for the security forces to arrive.”

US Army spokesman, Lt Col Eric Bloom said at least 19 people were killed - seven hostages, seven Iraqi security troops and five militants.

He said the assailants were wearing suicide vests and armed with grenades. As many as 30 people were wounded, including a priest and a nun, he said.

Iraqi military officials said the death toll was at least nine, while police and medical officials put it as high as 37. The figures could not be immediately verified.

There were also conflicting reports about the militants’ fate. An Iraqi police official put the number of insurgents at 10 and said all were captured. And Baghdad military spokesman Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi said security forces killed eight attackers, while the US military said between five and seven attackers died.

Iraqi defence minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obeidi said “the terrorists were planning to murder the highest number of hostages”. Across Iraq, security forces were alerted to new threats against Christians.

A cryptically-worded statement posted last night on a militant website allegedly by the Islamic State of Iraq appeared to claim responsibility for the attack.

The group, linked to al Qaida in Iraq, said it would “exterminate Iraqi Christians” if Muslim women were not freed within 48 hours from ministries and churches run by the Christian Coptic church in Egypt.

The message’s authenticity could not be immediately verified.

Iraqi Christians, who have been frequent targets for Sunni insurgents, have left in droves since the 2003 US-led war. Some 1.25 million Christians, 80% of them Catholic, used to live in Iraq. There are an estimated 870,000 left today.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said the insurgents called military forces and demanded the release of women prisoners linked to al Qaida in Iraq, including an Egyptian woman whom they named.

An Iraqi police official said security forces stormed the church while the attackers were on the phone. The US military said American forces provided air support only.

Earlier this year, the US-based National Council of Churches warned the State Department that Iraq’s political deadlock could pose a threat to the nation’s Christians if they got caught between Shiites and Sunnis competing for political power following inconclusive elections in March.

Nearly eight months after the vote, Iraqi officials have yet to settle on a power-sharing agreement or choose new leaders – a delay that many fear could undermine the country’s still fragile security.