BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Fifty-two hostages and police officers were killed when security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held by al Qaeda-linked gunmen, a deputy interior minister said today.
Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal said 67 people were also wounded in the raid on the church, which was seized by guerrillas during Sunday mass in the bloodiest attack in Iraq since August. The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid.
The gunmen took hostages at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, one of Baghdad’s largest and demanded the release of al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt.
“This death toll is for civilians and security force members. We don’t differentiate between police and civilians. They are all Iraqis,” Kamal said, adding the number did not include dead attackers.
At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighbourhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.
U.S. and Iraqi military helicopters thundered overhead as security forces cordoned off the area.
A federal police source who declined to be identified said Sunday’s rescue operation was extremely difficult.
“The attackers were among children, armed with weapons,” the source said. “Most of the casualties were killed or wounded when the security forces raided the place.”
Iraq’s Christian minority has frequently been targeted by militants, with churches bombed and priests assassinated.
“While I was trying to find my way out, in the dark, I walked over bodies,” a Christian woman who was one of the hostages told Reuters late day, asking not to be identified. “There are many bodies there.”
Officials say some of the attackers blew up explosives vests or threw grenades during the raid.
