Baghdad (dpa) – Iraqi Christians had low-key Christmas celebrations this year because of the lack of security, Louis Saku, the archbishop of northern Iraq, said on Sunday. “Our feast this year is incomplete and haunted by insecurity,” he said in a statement. “We had to hold our prayers earlier than usual.” More than 70 people were killed Thursday in a string of car bombings in the capital Baghdad. It was the biggest single-day attack since the withdrawal of US troops from the country earlier this month. US Vice President Joe Biden called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday to offer condolences on the recent violence in Baghdad. Biden also reiterated US support for the efforts to convene a dialogue among Iraqi political leaders, a White House statement said. Meanwhile, Saku said that each Christian family in Iraq had to celebrate Christmas on their own this year. “In the past, we used to hold mass celebrations at clubs and social centers.” Security was stepped up around churches on Sunday amid fears of an increase in sectarian violence. According to Saku, Iraqi Christians have been forced to leave the country in recent years over threats of abductions and killings. Earlier Sunday, an Iraqi Christian was shot dead by a group of armed men near his house in the northern city of Mosul. In a separate incident, two soldiers were killed when a car driven by a suicide bomber blew up near an army checkpoint in Dujeil town, south of the northern city of Tikrit. The blast wounded 20 people, both soldiers and civilians, according to the Tikrit Health Directorate. The number of Christians in Iraq has declined sharply in response to the continued attacks and threats by al-Qaeda. It is estimated that less than half a million Christians now live in Iraq – about half their pre-2003 numbers. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/1Yox3 Tags: Christians, Christmas, Instability, Sectarianism, Violence Section: Iraq, Latest News, Religion
