A series of bomb blasts targeting Christians in Baghdad has killed at least three people and injured two dozen more, security sources have said.
At least 14 roadside bombs were detonated and a mortar round was fired in Christian districts across the Iraqi capital last night and early this morning.
An interior ministry source told Reuters that the attacks were a “continuation” of the massacre at Our Lady of Salvation church which killed dozens of worshippers last week.
According to one report, today’s bombings targeted the family of one of the victims of the massacre.
The Islamic State of Iraq – an al-Qaeda front group – claimed responsibility for the Baghdad church attack and warned in a message published on militant websites that more attacks would follow. “We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood,” the statement said.
The latest bombings follow protests by Iraqi Christians in Sweden, Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and America who urged the Iraqi government to do more to protect the country’s minorities.
About 300 protesters at the “Black March” in London called on Britain to remember its historic debt to Iraq’s Aramaic-speaing Assyrian Christians, who fought alongside Britain in two world wars.
Two Christians were also reported to have been murdered on Sunday.