of deadly violence against local and foreign Christians in Iraq, BosNewsLife learned Thursday, September 23. The Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOM-Canada), a Christian human rights group, reported that officials "initially believed the deaths of Canadians Andrew Shmakov and Munir Toma were the results of a car bombing on September 14 which killed forty-seven people."
However VOM-Canada said it had learned from family members that the two men were "chased down last week, beaten and shot" in Iraq’s troubled capital.
"Relatives of Toma in Baghdad (said) that Toma had been shot seventeen times. It has been reported that Toma’s wife, Baydah, and six-year-old daughter Rita are in hiding in Iraq, fearing for their lives," VOM-Canada added in a newsletter obtained by BosNewsLife.
Toma and Shmakov, who established a construction company as part of the rebuilding of Iraq, were attacked by gunmen when they left their office, VOM-Canada quoted family members as saying.
"They escaped in their car, but four other cars followed, ambushed and killed them," VOM-Canada said.
PRAYERS URGED
It urged supporters, which include evangelical Christians, to pray for Toma’s child and wife as well as family members and Christians throughout Iraq.
The latest attack has underscored concern among Christians, who VOM-Canada said have "frequently been targeted by militant Muslims because of their faith." Only a few days before the Canadians were killed, a car packed with an estimated 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of dynamite was detonated outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Baghdad late Friday September 10, the Adventist News Network (ANN) reported.
No one was injured as there were no services in progress at the time, but there was extensive damage, ANN pictures showed. A guard was present on the church compound and escaped unhurt, ANN said.
SECOND ATTACK
It was the second time the church sustained bomb damage in less than a year. Last October a powerful explosion, which destroyed the Red Cross headquarters 200 meters away, shattered the stained glass windows on the other side of the church, ANN reported at the time.
Adventists in Iraq have been on high alert since six bombs went off outside Christian churches on Sunday, August 1, killing at least 11 people.
Michael Porter, president of the Adventist Church in the Middle East, expressed concern about the escalating insecurity in Iraq. "Last month, a member of the (Adventist) Baghdad Church, a mother of three young children, was caught in cross fire on her way to a relative’s wedding in Mosul and lost her life," he told ANN. "It is hard to imagine the daily stresses the people are under. We earnestly pray for restraint and that the various factions in Iraq will end their quarrels so the wonderful people of this beautiful country may be given a chance to flourish once more," ANN quoted Porter as saying.
THOUSANDS FLEE
However thousands of Iraqi Christians have already fled in recent months because of the attacks to countries such as neighboring Jordan and other Middle East nations, human rights watchers say. News of violence directed against foreign and Iraqi Christians came as television footage showed how British people prayed for the release of a British hostage, pleading for his life on a video posted on an extremist Internet Web site.
The captive, Kenneth Bigley, appealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene.
"I think this is possibly my last chance," he said in television footage aired throughout the world on Thursday, September 23. "I don’t want to die." Bigley, 62, was being held by a militant group led by Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
TWO BEHEADINGS
The group already beheaded Americans Eugene (Jack) Armstrong, who grew up in Hillsdale, and Jack Hensley of Marietta, Ga., who were abducted along with Bigley from their Baghdad home last week. Al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group had demanded the release of all female prisoners in exchange for the three hostages.
But the American military said it has only two Iraqi women in custody. They were identified as Rihab Rashid Taha, a scientist who became known as ‘Dr. Germ’ for helping Iraq make weapons out of anthrax, and biotechnology expert Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, dubbed ‘Mrs. Anthrax’, who has also been accused of playing a key role in Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs.
Iraqi and American officials seemed reluctant to free the women, as both Washington and London have said they would not negotiate with terrorists, apparently for fear it could spark more hostage takings. In another hostage drama, two statements surfaced on the Internet from different groups, each purporting to have killed two Italian aid workers.
The second statement said a video of the slaying of the two women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, would be made public, but Italy cast doubt on both statements’ authenticity, The Associated Press (AP) news agency reported Thursday, September 23. Despite the dangers, several Christian mission organizations are still active in Iraq with a variety of projects, and local church leaders have reported a growing interest in Bibles and the Gospel among Muslims and other Iraqis.
