Al-Qaida front group in Iraq threatens Christians with more violence after bloody church siege
Al-Qaida's front group in Iraq has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad church that left 58 people dead, linking the warning to claims that Egypt's Coptic Church is holding women captive for converting to Islam.
The Islamic State of Iraq, which has already claimed responsibility for Sunday's assault on a Catholic church Mass in downtown Baghdad, said its deadline for Egypt's Copts to release the women had expired. As a result, it said its fighters would attack Christians wherever they can be reached, raising the prospect of violence against Christians across the Middle East.
"We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood," the insurgent group said in a statement posted late Tuesday on militant websites.
The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq and other allied Sunni insurgent factions. It is unclear exactly what led the group to seize on arguments over conversion that have raised tension between Egypt's Muslims and its minority Coptic Christian community.
In announcing its reasons for Sunday's attack, the group said it was giving the Coptic Church 48 hours to release women it says are being held against their will after converting to Islam and being forced to return to Christianity. The group also demanded the release of al-Qaida-linked prisoners held in Iraq.
With the deadline expired, the group said, "All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the muhajed
The group has specifically mentioned two Egyptian women who are married to Coptic priests. Some believe they converted to Islam to leave their husbands since divorce is banned by Egypt's Coptic Church.
Over the past few years in Egypt, arguments over conversions in both communities have worsened tensions already high over issues like the construction of new churches. The two communities generally live in peace, though clashes and attacks have taken place.
The conversion issue has become a rallying point for hard-line Islamists in Egypt.
The Baghdad church siege horrified Iraq's Christian community, hundreds of whom gathered Tuesday for a memorial service in Baghdad. One of the officials read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI to the crowd.
"For years the violence hasn't stopped hitting this country, and Christians are becoming the target of these cruel terrorist attacks," the letter read.
Sunday's attack was the deadliest ever recorded against Iraq's Christians, whose numbers have plummeted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion as the community has fled to other countries.
On Tuesday it was Iraq's Shiite Muslims who bore the brunt of violence. A string of 13 attacks struck neighborhoods across the capital on Tuesday night.
The death toll in that violence climbed to 91 people by Wednesday, according to Iraqi police and hospital
I recently learned from a close friend that the Mooselymbs had successfully closed down even the mega Christian churches in Indonesia.