Online video images of the attack against the Holy Family Church showed one of its walls blasted open and all its surfaces covered with broken glass, rubble and dust from the entrance where the explosion took place to the sanctuary on the far end of the building. The explosion occurred on the second day of the month-long Muslim fasting period of Ramadan.
Nearby houses in one of Kirkuk’s oldest quarters, where Muslims and Christians had lived together peacefully, were seriously damaged, and cars on the street were left in twisted piles of metal. Shattered glass wounded 13 residents as they slept, area sources said.
“We are sad because this is nonsense, and people are discouraged,” the archbishop of Kirkuk, Monsignor Louis Sako, told Compass. “We try to encourage them and give them hope. We have asked the mayor-governor to help the families who lost their houses and cars before thinking to restore the church.”
All but one of the wounded residents in the church’s neighborhood — an elderly man who was seriously injured — had reportedly been released from the hospital the day after the blast. The Rev Imad Yalda, the parish priest, was in the church building at the time of the blast and was also slightly wounded.
Though Mr Yalda and the community were sad about the events, a local pastor who requested anonymity told Compass such attacks had become a normal part of the lives of Christians in Iraq. “He accepted what happened, but he was very sad for the building of his church,” the pastor said. “But this has become ordinary for us, and we expect that any minute something will happen here. When you are living in this situation, you are used to accept what is happening.”
No terrorist or extremist group has taken responsibility for the attack, and local Church leaders said it seemed Christians in Iraq were trapped in a senseless game of power and intimidation. “Sometimes we feel there is some pressure over the Christians all over Iraq to make them leave their cities and go to the northern part of Iraq, to Kurdistan,” said the pastor. “But who knows? I can’t say those who did this want us to leave our city.”
Monsignor Sako said the perpetrators were trying to create an atmosphere of confusion by attacking Christians during Ramadan. “They are using this to shock people,” he said. “They are getting the attention of politicians in Kirkuk and in Iraq and saying, ‘We are here and powerful, and we can do whatever we want.’ It’s just confusing — [they want to] say they are here and create a chaotic situation and make a panic among the people.”
Authorities also located two other cars full of explosives in the area. One was parked in front of the church building of Mar Gourgis, of the Assyrian Church of the East. A school is located next to the church building.
Another vehicle packed with explosives was parked in front of a Protestant church in the neighborhood.
