a car bomb rocked the headquarters of the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad Monday, May 17, putting additional strain on Christian aid workers who have taken over many tasks from the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross.
Ezzedine Salim, who was also a Shia member of the Daawa Islamic Party as well as a writer and political activist, was waiting in a convoy of several vehicles to enter the compound when the bomb went off, reports said.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said Shia is the second member of the Governing Council to be killed since it was set up last July. Television footage showed debris and an area covered in smoke, suggesting a major blast had occurred at rush hour Monday. The carnage came after two Iraqi women working for the U.S.-led coalition were killed and two others wounded, in an attack on a vehicle in the Iraqi capital.
Police and witnesses said the victims were were hit by small-arms fire late Saturday in an ambush as they rode in a mini-van in southern Baghdad. Several months earlier Christian women working for the U.S-led coalition were killed, amid concern about growing Islamic extremism in Iraq.
Coalition forces have in recent weeks killed scores of Islamic militants around area’s such as Fallujah, where U.S. forces say they battle against a major insurgency. News reports said U.S.-led allies battled with insurgents and militias loyal to a rebel Shiite cleric in at least four cities in Iraq over a 24-hour period ending Saturday, killing up to 40 Iraqis to end what some officials described as "minor uprising."
DISCUSSIONS
Monday’s Baghdad bomb blast was expected to lead to more discussions among British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George W. Bush who are reportedly speeding up plans to withdraw troops from Iraq and hand over security roles to the Iraqis, the BBC quoted British media as saying.
Not leaving are several missionaries and Christian aid workers, who have opened possibilities for Iraqis to receive clothes and toiletries donated from overseas for "bargains — as well as answers to their questions about faith from the Christian staffers manning the counters", The Washington Post newspaper reported.
"We want to be respectful to the local religion," said the Rev. Sekyu Chang, 45, of Light Global Mission Church in Vienna, who helped set up the charity thrift store. "There is nothing outwardly Christian about the shop, but most of the workers are Christian. They are going to share their personal faith when there are occasions."
With a population estimated to be more than 95 percent Muslim and outbreaks of violence in the name of Islam occurring on an almost daily basis, Iraq is not a place where Christian missionaries can openly evangelize on street corners, hold community prayer meetings or hand out stacks of Bibles, the paper noted. "Many say they entered the country as businessmen or aid workers, roles that let them establish relationships with Iraqis about something other than religion."
VARIOUS PROJECTS
Over the past year, Christian aid groups have played a significant, if unofficial, role in the reconstruction, helping with various projects: repairing water purification facilities, building a book-bag factory to create employment and holding classes to teach people English. And some have drawn criticism that they endanger the lives of secular aid workers and the military because insurgents may associate Christianity with Western domination, or because they disguise their intentions.
Even as the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and large numbers of contractors have pulled out of Iraq due to escalating violence, many Christian groups have chosen to remain despite the dangers.
In February, four American pastors were traveling in a taxi near the capital when gunmen opened fire, killing one of them. In March, five Southern Baptist missionaries were ambushed in the north; four died and the other was seriously wounded. And in April, eight South Korean ministers who had just entered Iraq from Jordan were kidnapped. Although they were released unharmed, their abduction prompted the Korean government to evacuate all but a few of their compatriots.
Rev. David Davis, 53, of Grace Bible Baptist Church in Vernon, Conn., who was among the four pastors ambushed in February on the road from Babylon to Baghdad. A friend died in the seat in front of him, and he was shot in the left shoulder, The Washington Post said. Still, Davis, stayed on after the attack, performing a baptism a few days later. And though home now, he said he is eager to return. "I believe Christianity is the one true way. I am willing to [preach] the gospel anywhere I can," Davis told the newspaper.
