Christian churches attacked or bombed in Iraq since June 2004
26/10/2011
This list compiled from sources provided by the Assyrian International News Agency and news sources that document the violence against Christians in Iraq.
Seventy churches have been attacked or bombed since June, 2004: 43 in Baghdad, 19 in Mosul, 7 in Kirkuk and 1 in Ramadi. The following is a list of the bombings.
August 15, 2011. St. Ephraim Syriac Orthodox Church was bombed.
August 2, 2011. A car bomb exploded outside a Catholic church in central Kirkuk, Iraq, early Tuesday, wounding at least 20 people.
April 24, 2011. On Easter Sunday a bomb exploded outside the Sacred Heart church in Baghdad. A firefight occurred outside Mary the Virgin Catholic Church as congregants huddled inside.
October 31, 2010. Al-Qaida terrorists attacked Our Lady of Deliverance Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad on Sunday evening during a church service. When police raided the church the terrorists set fire to their explosives, ultimately killing 58 parishioners, including two priests.
December 23, 2009. In Mosul the church of St. George and the church of St. Thomas were bombed, killing three people.
December 15, 2009. The Al Gahera (Our Lady of Purity) Syrian Orthodox Church in Mosul’s city center was bombed and significantly damaged. 4 persons were killed and 40 injured. The Al Beshara (Annunciation) Syrian Catholic Church in Mosul was bombed.
November 26, 2009. In the western Jadida (New Mosul) district, the Church of St Ephrem and the St Theresa Convent of Dominican Nuns were bombed and heavily damaged.
July 12, 2009. Seven churches were bombed in Baghdad, killing 4 and injuring 18.
The Church of St Mary in Sharaa Philistine, four were killed; The Church of Saint George in the district at Madidi; The St. Joseph Church in Nafak, western Baghdad; The Church of the Sacred Heart; The church of St Peter and Paul; The Assyrian Church of Saint Mary; and The St. James Church in Dora.
January 9, 2008. Two churches were bombed in central and northern Kirkuk; three people were wounded.
January 6, 2008. Seven churches were bombed in Iraq. In Mosul: Chaldean Church of Saint Paul, Nunnery of Dominican Sisters, and Orphanage of the Chaldean Sisters; and in Baghdad: Rum Orthodox Church (where the guard was injured); Mar Ghorghis chaldean church in Ghadir area; Saint Paul Chaldean church in Zafaraniya area; and Chaldean sisters nunnery in Zafaraniya. One man was slightly injured in these bombings.
June 4, 2007. St. Jacob Church, near the Asia Neighborhood (Hay Asya) in Dora, was attacked and the Christian guards killed, the church was looted and will be turned into a mosque. St. John the Baptist Church near the Hay Al-Athoriyeen (Assyrian quarter) was also looted.
May 31, 2007. Shiites occupied the Angel Raphael Convent, belonging to the Chaldean Sisters of the Scared Heart, in Dora, Baghdad and turned it into a base for military operations.
May 18, 2007. St. George Assyrian Church in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad was firebombed.
April 14, 2007. 2 churches, An Islamic group forcefully removed the Cross from the churches of St. John and St. George in Dora, Baghdad. An affiliated Islamic group in Northern Iraq occupied the Assyrian monastery of Raban Hormuz.
November 1, 2006. Unknown assailants bombed the entrance of the Dominican Clock Church compound, a Catholic church in Mosul.
October 8, 2006. Two bombs exploded around 6:30 a.m. near the Church of Virgin Mary on Palestine road in Baghdad. One policeman was killed and many bystanders were injured.
October 4, 5 2006. A group of men opened fire on the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul, the second time in 8 days.
September 27, 2006. A rocket attack was launched against the Chaldean Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul.
September 24, 2006. St. Mary’s Cathedral, the home of His Holiness Mar Addai II, Patriarch of The Ancient Church of the East, was bombed. Located in the Riyadh district of Baghdad the cathedral experienced dual bombings, a small IED followed, few minutes after, by a car detonation carrying a large amount of explosives. The bombing was timed to take place as the worshipers were leaving the Sunday morning sermon. 2 were killed and 20 injured.
September 8, 2006. Two bombs exploded in front of the main gate of a church in al-Za’faraniyya in Baghdad. The explosions caused damage to the church and injured the church guards.
June 2, 2006. Kaneesat al-Si’aood (The Church of Ascension) in Baghdad was bombed.
February 1 2006. The Baghdad Seventh-day Adventist Church was bombed for the second time in two years, injuring an armed guard, one of two permanently stationed to protect the church compound.
January 29, 2006. Car bombs exploded outside the Vatican embassy and near four churches in Iraq, killing at least three people. In Kirkuk, three civilians were killed and one wounded in the attack on the Church of the Virgin, and six civilians were hurt in the blast outside an Orthodox church. In Baghdad, car bombs exploded outside St Joseph’s Catholic Church in the suburb of Sina’a and an Anglican church in the eastern Nidhal area.
November 2, 2005. At approximately 5 p.m. a car bomb exploded near the Church of Mar Giwargis (St. George) in the Assyrian quarter of Almas district in Kirkuk. 3 were killed.
July 16, 2005. A small explosion rocked the Assyrian Church in Habbaniya, Ramadi in Iraq.
December 7, 2004. The Al-Tahira Chaldean Catholic Church and Armenian church that was under construction were bombed in Mosul. The first blast struck the al-Tahira (“the pure,” in reference to the Virgin Mary) Church about 2:30 p.m. in al-Shifa’ neighborhood, eastern Mosul. Ten armed men stormed the church, planted explosives throughout it, and set the bombs off wounding three people and destroying most of it. An hour later, gunmen bombed in al-Wahda neighborhood, western Mosul, an Armenian church under construction.
November 8, 2004. St Bahnam’s Catholic church in Dora, Baghdad was bombed, killing 3 people and wounded 40.
October 16, 2004. Five churches were bombed in Baghdad in a coordinated attack. The church of Saint Joseph in the west of the Iraqi capital was hit at about 4 a.m. Twenty minutes later, another blast ripped through the streets at another Saint Joseph church, in Dora, southern Baghdad. After another 20 minutes, Saint Paul’s church was struck in the same area. At 4:50 am, the Roman Catholic St. George church in the central district of Karrada was rocked by a blast and engulfed in flames. A fifth explosion occurred about an hour later at Saint Thomas church in Mansour, to the west. An artillery shell, believed to be intended for the church, was fired into a car park between a hotel and Saint George’s Anglican Church.
September 11, 2004. A car bomb exploded outside the Virgin Mary Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Al-Sa’doun Park in the center of Baghdad.
September 10, 2004. A bomb exploded at the Assyrian Anglican Church at al-Andalus Street in Baghdad.
August 1, 2004. Five Assyrian, and one Armenian churches were bombed simultaneously in Baghdad and Mosul. Twelve Assyrians were killed and some 60 injured: Church Sayidat al-Najat (Our Lady of Salvation) – Karrada, Baghdad; Church Sayidat al-Zohour (Our Lady of the Flowers) – Karrada, Baghdad (Armenian Catholic Church); Sts. Peter & Paul, Dora, Baghdad; St. Paul Church – Center of Mosul; St. Elia, Baghdad; and St. Mary’s Church in east Baghdad (car bomb disarmed by police)
June 26, 2004. Two unidentified men in a silver Opel throw a hand bomb at the Holy Spirit Church (al-Rooh al-Qudos) in the Akha’ quarter in Mosul. The explosion injured the sister of the priest.
