Reporting from Baghdad — Bombs exploded outside five churches around Baghdad on Sunday evening, killing four people and sowing fears among the country's dwindling Christian minority that they may be subject to a fresh round of persecution now that U.S. forces have withdrawn from Iraq's cities.
The four deaths occurred when a car bomb detonated outside the Virgin Mary Church in the east Baghdad neighborhood of Ghadeer as worshipers were leaving evening Mass. Sixteen people were wounded.
Police said three of the dead and 12 of the wounded were Christians.
"This is going to make the Christians scared," said the church's pastor, Bishop Shlemon Warduni, who was in his office when the bomb went off. "They will be scared to come to services, and maybe more will leave the country."
The attack came shortly after five smaller bombs placed in trash cans exploded almost simultaneously outside four other churches in the Karada and Dora neighborhoods, both of which once had sizable Christian communities. The four churches were closed at the time, police said.
A sixth church had been bombed overnight Saturday, pointing to a renewed campaign of violence against one of Iraq's oldest, smallest and most persecuted communities less than two weeks after U.S. forces completed their pullback, leaving Iraqi forces in charge of the nation's everyday security.
"Definitely we are the most vulnerable members of this society and we don't have any political forces to protect us," said Abdullah Nufaili, who heads the Christian Endowment organization in Iraq. "Their goal is to drive the Christians out of Iraq."
The attacks were reminiscent of a wave of bloody bombings against five churches in Baghdad and Mosul on a Sunday evening almost exactly five years ago. Those bombings signaled the beginnings of widespread persecution against Christians that has seen hundreds of thousands flee Iraq.
liz.sly@latimes.com
Times staff writer Caesar Ahmed contributed to this report.
