According to an August 9 report from BosNewsLife, an Assyrian Christian compound in Baghdad came under mortar attack on August 9, continuing the violence which exploded on August 1 when at least eleven people were killed in a coordinated attack on five churches. The compound houses a clinic, a women's centre and a computer centre, providing humanitarian relief, and serving as the nerve centre for Iraq's Assyrian Christians. At last report, there was no word of casualties.
In response to these and other attacks, since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, it is reported that hundreds of Christians are fleeing to neighbouring countries. The Daily Telegraph quoted Father Faris Toma, pastor of one of the churches destroyed on August 1, saying, "We cannot understand why or how they could do something like this. All we can do is ask God to give them forgiveness and grant us peace."
Assyrian Christians have been brutally persecuted for many years in Iraq. Since the fall of Hussein, reports of the persecution they faced in northern Iraq by both government forces and the Kurdistan Regional Government have come to light. Click here for a link to a report from Assyrian Christian News.
Join with the Iraqi Christians in praying for inner peace in the midst of these challenges. Pray that those responsible for the attacks will see the grace of God demonstrated in the lives of Iraqi Christians and that they will come to faith in Christ.
For more information on persecution facing Christians in Iraq, click here.
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