Christian priest killed in Baghdad

AP ^ | AP | SAMEER N. YACOUB

[BGHater]

BAGHDAD - An Assyrian Orthodox priest was killed in a drive-by shooting Saturday in Baghdad, police and an assistant said, the latest attack against Iraq's Christian minority.

The priest, Youssef Adel, was shot by gunmen who drove up in a car and opened fire as he was opening the gate of his house near the St. Peter and Paul church where he presided, an assistant said.

Christians have frequently been caught up in the violence or been targeted in this predominantly Muslim country.

The body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, one of Iraq's most senior Chaldean Catholic clerics, was found on March 13, about two weeks after he was seized by gunmen in the volatile northwestern city of Mosul.

Adel's assistant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, said the attack occurred about 11:30 a.m. and the gunmen fled the area in a car after the shooting.

He said the priest was in his early 40s and was married but had no children.

Adel was an engineer but became a priest about six years ago. He previously served in a church in the predominantly Sunni area of Dora in southern Baghdad but moved to the central primarily Shiite district of Karradah after a series of attacks in the former insurgent stronghold.

The assistant said Adel was a compassionate man who preached about love and peace and was heavily involved in helping orphans and widows in his church.

"We are paying the price of the insecurity hitting this country," he said.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a bomb exploded on a minibus carrying morning commuters on the busy Palestine Street, killing at least four passengers and wounding 15, police said.

The victims were primarily workers and vendors from the Sadr City district who were on their way to commercial areas elsewhere in the capital.

The killings underscored the dangers that continue to face Iraqis in Baghdad and elsewhere as attacks persist despite a sharp decline in violence over recent months amid a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown.

The Iraqi government, meanwhile, eased security measures in two Baghdad neighborhoods that are strongholds of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia — Sadr City and Shula — amid complaints of food shortages nearly a week after the radical Shiite cleric issued a cease-fire order.

Trucks carrying maintenance teams, food, oil products and ambulances are now allowed to get into the areas, according to a statement issued by Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's chief Iraqi military spokesman.

The areas — including Sadr City, which is home to some 2.5 million Shiites and the militia's largest base — have suffered as a vehicle ban remained effect despite the lifting of a curfew elsewhere in the capital earlier this week.

Despite an order by al-Sadr to end to large-scale fighting that broke out over a government crackdown in the southern city of Basra, clashes have continued between his fighters and Iraqi security forces.

Sporadic gunfire was heard in Basra, although it was relatively calm as aid workers delivered humanitarian assistance to the beleaguered residents.

Associated Press Television News footage showed neighbors in the Hayaniyah area examining the rubble of a house they said was destroyed in an airstrike Friday evening in the militia stronghold.

Police said five people were killed in the strike, acknowledging they included an unspecified number of militants who had fired a mortar at Iraqi security forces.

British military spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway said an attack helicopter hit a position from which militants were firing at Iraqi forces in Hayaniyah, but he gave no information about casualties and did not specify whether the aircraft was U.S. or British.

A series of airstrikes have struck suspected militant positions since the fighting erupted on March 25, drawing American and British forces into the battle and casting further doubt on the ability of Iraqi forces to take over their own security.

The White House has conditioned further U.S. troop withdrawals on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police.

Al-Maliki had suggested he planned similar crackdowns in Sadr City and Shula earlier this week, but instead he ordered a nationwide freeze on Iraqi raids against Shiite militants on Friday.

The reversal came after al-Sadr hinted at retaliation if Iraqi security forces continue to arrest his followers.

[livius]

Horrible news. Someday - when Iraq is Christian again, which will only happen when we realize that we must launch a new Crusade and preach the Truth to the Muslims - there will be a shrine to the Iraqi Martyrs in one of these places of death.

[MuttTheHoople]

Satan is the most active where he sees Christ moving in the land. A muslim cleric admitted in 2001 that 6,000,000 Muslims were converting to Christianity every year.

Islam is in its death throes. Most people of good will have seen the face of Islam and are revolted. Expect the practitioners of the heathen religion to lash out in desperation.

What Satan, and they, have never realized is that the ground for Christianity is fertilized with the blood of the Martyrs.

[livius]

Satan is the most active where he sees Christ moving in the land.

I think you're absolutely right on that.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

The left is silent. Because they applaud the death of a Christian at the hands of their favorite cult: the death cult.

[YOUGOTIT]

If one looks at history it is plain that Christians have been slaughtered since Islam came about. The Middle East, Northern Africa, Egypt and parts of Southern Europe and Eastern Europe were rampaged by Islam. During the present day it continues and no main media cares.

If one adds the Jews who were killed during the same time in History the numbers are astronomical.

[river rat]

I’m seeing Iraq less and less as a partner in the future - and more and more as simply a $hi+ magnet to draw Jihadists to their death.....

The depth of depravity and corruption by Islam may not be overcome or moderated by “example”....
It may require total and complete destruction.

[eleni121]

God Bless this Christian Martyr Father Adel ...hallowed in the eyes of the Lord.

May his family be comforted in the knowledge that their loved one is secure in the arms of the Lord.

[NYer]

Another martyr to the faith! Prayers for him, his family and congregation.

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[NYer]

Orthodox ping!

[Kolokotronis]

Another Eastern Christian priest killed in Iraq.

[Kolokotronis]

O God of all spirits and of every flesh, Who did trod down death and overcome the devil, bestowing life on this Your world, to the soul of this Your servant, the holy priest Youssef, departed this life, do You Yourself, O Lord, give rest in a place of fight, in a place of green pasture, in a place of refreshment, from where pain and sorrow and mourning have fled away. Every sin by him committed in thought, word, or deed, do You as our Good and Loving God forgive; seeing that there is no man who shall live and sin not, for You alone are without sin. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is truth; for You are the Resurrection, the Life, and the Repose of Your servant, the holy priest Youssef, departed this life, O Christ our God; and to You do we send up glory, with Your Eternal Father and Your All‑Holy, Good and Life‑creating Spirit; both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

[Salvation]

Thanks for the post.