Christmas Day bombings in Iraq kills nearly 40 Christians

Terrorists in Iraq targeted Christians in two separate bomb attacks in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, officials said.

The bombs were detonated in Christian areas of Baghdad.

Image/CIA

A car bomb that exploded near a church after a Christmas service killed at least 26, police and medics said.

A bomb in a parked car went off on Wednesday while worshipers were leaving a church in the Doura district of southern Baghdad after finishing prayers, police sources said.

Most of the victims were Christian, they said. Scores of others were injured.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The attacks come a day after Christians in Iraq celebrated their first Christmas Eve midnight mass in Baghdad since 2003, taking advantage of intensive security measures in the capital.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad condemned the attacks — in the Dora area of Baghdad — targeting “Christians celebrating Christmas.”

“The Christian community in Iraq has suffered deliberate and senseless targeting by terrorists for many years, as have many other innocent Iraqis. The United States abhors all such attacks and is committed to its partnership with the Government of Iraq to combat the scourge of terrorism,” according to a statement released by the embassy.

In Afghanistan, two rounds of “indirect fire” hit the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul, but no one was hurt.

The incidents highlight the security challenges in both Iraq and Afghanistan.