Another update: Joe Koczera has a post on this tragedy here.
Update: They’ve been freed – Al Jazeera report here, and BBC here.
From the BBC World Service (18:05 GMT):
Gunmen take hostages in Baghdad church
Gunmen have taken around 40 worshippers hostage in a central Baghdad church, Iraqi police say.
The gunmen first attacked the stock exchange in the Iraqi capital before moving to a nearby Assyrian Catholic church, where a Sunday evening service was being held.
At least six people were killed in the attacks, police said.
The gunmen are reportedly demanding the release of al-Qaeda members imprisoned in Iraq and Egypt.
According to the police, several other people were wounded.
The attackers are also holding two priests at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, the Chaldean Bishop Shlemon Warduni told the AFP agency.
“What we know is that a number of worshippers and two priests are being held hostage at the church by terrorists,” he said.
A local television station, al-Baghdadia, said it had been telephoned by the suspected attackers, who claimed they were from the organisation Islamic State of Iraq – an umbrella group embracing al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
The broadcaster said the men were demanding the release of al-Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt.
It reported that the men spoke in classical Arabic, which could imply that they are not from Iraq.
The BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad said the church in Karada district was surrounded by security forces and the area sealed off.
There were reports that the gunmen threatened to shoot the hostages if the church is stormed by security forces.
In 2008, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen and found dead two weeks later.
We clearly need to pray. But this also reminded me of something Steve Hayes wrote here:
The destruction of Christian communities in the Middle East surely cannot be described as an unintended consequence of the invasion. It was both forseeable and foreseen, and therefore must have been intended. It is an integral part of the Bush-Blair legacy. It is said that one should not ascribe to malice what can be explained by ignorance and stupidity, but the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth cannot have been that stupid…. can they?
May God have mercy on us all.
October 31, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Lord have mercy.
November 1, 2010 at 6:17 am
I do believe that Bush could have been that stupid. Being an American who has lived and worked in the Middle East, I have often had to serve as a cultural bridge — and the two river banks are as different as field and forest. Few in the USA, including few in the US government, understand the depth, nature, and and complex historical development of the emotional gulf among religious groups as well as among tribes. May God intercede where man does not understand!
November 1, 2010 at 1:16 pm
I heard this terrible news on the radio this morning on the day catholics remember and celebrate all Saints.
The destruction and decline of Christian communities in the Middle East is indeed not a new fact and is going on since a long time.In 1999 I read William Dalrymple’s magnificent “From the Holy Mountain” in which he walks in the steps of John Moschos, author of “The Spritual Meadow” and sees the decline and even persecution of christians in the Middle East and Turkey.
Algeria is not the Middle East but also a country where the Christian minority had and maybe still has a hard time. Last week I saw the beautiful French movie “Les hommes et des dieux” on the life and death of the cistercian monks of Thiberine, also victims of Muslim (and even by Muslims isolated and condemned) extremists.
Kyrie eleison. Lord Jesus CHRIST, son of God, have mercy upon us, sinners.
Mary,Panaghia, pray for us.
Dirk
November 1, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I read that they have been freed. Glory to God.
Dirk
November 1, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Dirk, thanks for your comment. I agree that the destruction of Christian communities in the Middle East is not new, but it does seem to be getting even worse. I read Dalrymple’s book several years ago and found it important and moving.
I’m interested to hear your account of “Les hommes et des dieux” as I’ve only recently heard of it, and hope that I am able to get to see it sometime as I have been greatly inspired by the monks of Tibherine and have occasionally thought that I should post more on them. It might be worth noting though that there has been serious evidence pointing to their deaths being the responsiblity of the Algerian and French intelligence agencies, rather than the GIA. I say this not to exonerate the GIA or other Islamic extremists, who have clearly been responsible for other atrocities, but simply to point to the complexity of the conflict and the complicity of the West in it.
November 1, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Dear Macrina,
In September I read an article in the French newspaper “Le Monde” in which the re-examination of the involvement of French and Algerian intelligence agencies was announced. So maybe my reaction was a bit to quick. The West is indeed involved in these conflicts.
Keep blogging Macrina: yours is a valuable blog!
PAX
Dirk
November 1, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Yes, I knew there’d been something recently, but couldn’t remember what it was. I think that Dom Armand of Scourmont has previously published stuff about the suspicions of state involvment on his website.
Thanks for your kind comments about my blog – it will take a while before it gets into a settled rhythm again (if it ever had one).