A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 46 - Tuesday, November 16th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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BAGHDAD (AP)--Militants detonated a bomb Monday near an Orthodox church in southern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 34, a police eyewitness said. There was a huge explosion near the St. Bahnam and Sheik Matti Orthodox church in the southern Doura neighborhood, said the policeman. 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 meters wide and about a meter and a 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." Eyewitness Mohammed Aziz said that strong explosions rocked the area. "Half an hour ago, I felt my house shaking three times and then saw the fire set in the church," he said. 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.
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