KIRKUK, Iraq — An insurgent blast left a church building in Kirkuk severely damaged Aug. 15 in a second round of attacks against the city’s Christian community in two weeks.
The bombing of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mar Afram was the only attack against Christian targets amid a wave of violence that swept across Iraq that day, hitting 17 cities and claiming about 70 lives, according to The Associated Press.
No Christians were killed in the attack on the church building. On Aug. 2, insurgents targeted three churches in the city. Abuna Gourgis Alyes, a priest at the Mar Afram church, said the Aug. 15 attack was the third and most devastating one against his church in the last five years.
A Protestant pastor who requested anonymity as he stood in the rubble of Mar Afram on a visit to the Orthodox priest’s church said, “Now I am here and seeing it with my own eyes. They have to demolish the church and rebuild it.”
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