Church Bloodbath: Dozens Killed in Attack in Baghdad

Iraqi security forces and well-wishers surround an Iraqi youth after his release from a hostage situation at the Sayidat al-Najat church in Baghdad. Dozens of people were killed after a rescue operation by Iraqi and U.S. forces on Sunday

 

 

 

(Nov. 1) -- Iraqi soldiers stormed a Catholic church where an entire congregation was held hostage by militants, sparking gun battles and explosions in which 58 people, including a priest, were killed. An al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for the siege.
About 100 people were inside the Our Lady of Deliverance church for a Sunday evening mass in Baghdad's mixed Karada neighborhood. The area has long been a hub of Iraqi Catholics, who used to make up nearly 3 percent of Iraq's population but have fled the country in droves since the 2003 U.S. invasion and sectarian warfare.
The violence began Sunday when militants stormed the Baghdad stock exchange in the same neighborhood, killing two security guards and detonating two bombs before moving on to the church, VOA News reported. Worshippers were held hostage for at least four hours until Iraqi anti-terrorism forces -- being counseled by the U.S. military -- barged in, trying to free them. According to The Washington Post, the elite Iraqi operations unit made the decision to enter the church after discovering that militants had already killed some of the hostages inside. 
One hostage who survived the attack described a terrifying scene inside the church. "I was lying on the floor and every now and then there would be an explosion or gunshots over our heads, over the lights, over the fixtures, over the Crucifix, over the Madonna, everywhere. After that, they started to say "Allahu akbar" and they blew themselves up," Thanaa Nassir, a worshipper at the church, told BBC.
"Allahu akbar"  Allah is greater.   Greater than what?  What kind of god would require his followers to kill themselves in order to obtain paradise?  Our heavenly Father loved us so much that He gave His one and only Son, to die for us so that we might have eternal life, so that we would not have to die.