Assyrian Church said Monday, December 11. Kidnappers have "secured the roads of Baghdad" for their activities, and stopping at check points is not a problem for them because "they are working with the Iraqi police and army," a church official told the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA)
on condition of anonymity.
He spoke as news emerged that the Assyrian Church paid a ransom of $170,000 to secure the release last month of Assyrian priests Doglas Yousef Al-Bazy and Sami Dank, AINA said.
34-year-old Fr. Al-Bazy, who heads the St. Elijah Church in Baghdad, was reportedly kidnapped on November 19 and released on November 28. It is believed that Sami Dank was kidnapped and released in the same period.
SECURITY FORCES
"We thank God they are alive, however, how can we build a state of law? how can we trust the police or the security forces,?" the official was quoted as saying.
Escalating violence against Iraqi Christians, including several other kidnappings and killings, has driven tens of thousands of Assyrians out of the country. Many of them seek refuge in neighboring Syria and Jordan.
The kidnapping of the Assyrian priests came shortly after the abduction of Paulos Iskander, a Syro-Orthodox priest of Mosul who was found murdered and mutilated two days after he disappeared on November 11.
CHRISTMAS PRAYERS
In published remark, the Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, Shleman Warduni, said he has urged believers to "support Iraqi Christians in prayer, especially as Holy Christmas draws near."
He said many Iraqi children "will not receive toys" while "young girls, cannot dress up and elderly people cannot enjoy the deserved serenity that should come with old age."
He told AsiaNews agency that, "Only prayer gives us the strength to press ahead and to resist in this difficult situation." There are currently roughly 700,000 Christians still in Iraq, although some church observers say that figure may be even lower. In 1987 about 1.4 million Iraqi Christians, most of them known as ‘Assyrians’, lived in the country, according to a census. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Iraq).
