face death, while two schools were nearly blown up by explosives, a human rights group said Thursday, November 20, amid reports of more bloodshed.
The Barnabas Fund, which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians in especially Muslim countries, said "bombs" were discovered in two schools, one in Baghdad and another in the northern town of Mosul last week.
It said the "bomb at St Thomas’ School in Mosul was discovered on November 11" as "a cluster of low explosive hand grenades that could have caused significant injury or even death." The school in Mosul has around 500 pupils "of whom about 450 are Christian and 50 are Muslim," the well organization explained in a statement send to BosNewsLife.
"Thankfully the bombs in both schools were successfully defused," said The Barnabas Fund, after the institutions apparently "received intimidating written warnings demanding that the children should become Muslims."
WARNINGS
If they failed to do so, the warnings read, they should expect to be killed. It is thought that a Saudi backed Wahhabi Sunni group are responsible for both the warnings and the bombs, said The Barnabas Fund.
It quoted one Muslim leaflet, distributed among Christian families, as saying that "in the name of God: the Merciful, the Compassionate "Do not adorn yourselves as ignorant women did before the time of Islam (Sura 33.33)."
The note warned that “the leadership of the Islamic Badr Brigade hopes that the head of this noble family will stand with the Muslim brethren and follow basic Muslim rules. The veil should be worn and the honorable teachings of Islam that have come to us from ages past must be adhered to. We are Iraqis and Muslims; we will not tolerate sin."
PUNISHMENT
It also threatened that "if this announcement is not complied with we shall either inflict some unbearable punishment, kill offenders, kidnap them, or destroy them in their homes with fire or by bombing." This order applies to the daughters of this family, their mother and the little girl," said the leaflet which was signed by. "The Islamic Badr Brigade, Najaf"
News about the threats toward Christians, which Muslim extremists have linked to the U.S. led coalition, came as two car bomb exploded Thursday, November 20 killing at least seven people. A former and well informed Iraqi diplomat told ANS he expected these kind of attacks to continue.
He warned this could lead to "a war like in Vietnam" against American forces and their supporters adding that "not Iraqis but foreign insurgents" were responsible for the violence, "with direct links with the Al Qaida" terrorist network.
SUNNI MUSLIMS
The targets of Thursday’s attacks were reportedly a leading Kurdish group and a local Sunni Muslim leader working with the United States-led coalition, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported.
Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew up a car Thursday, in Kirkuk outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan – killing himself and four people. The Kurdish group’s leader, Jalal Talabani, is currently the head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Earlier, in a separate attack late Wednesday in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a car exploded outside the home of a pro-U.S. Iraqi Sunni tribal chief. At least two of his relatives were reported killed, news reports said.
MAYOR RESIGNS
Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed mayor of the central Iraqi city of Fallujah announced his resignation, but did not give a reason. The mayor’s office has been attacked several times since the United States began its occupation of Iraq.
Also Thursday, say gunmen reportedly opened fire on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi policeman, despite claims by the U.S military its ongoing offensive against militants has lead to a reduction in attacks.
American troops have been on an even higher state of alert since at least 17 U.S. soldiers were killed and five other wounded in northern Iraq late Saturday, November 15 when two U.S. Army helicopters collided over the city of Mosul.
GUNFIRE
Reports quoted eye-witnesses as saying one of the Blackhawk helicopters was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade or gunfire, then veered into the other aircraft.
The Army’s 101st Airborne Division has said it is investigating the circumstances of the crash. Five U.S. helicopters have been brought down over Iraq in the past three weeks, killing 39 soldiers, including 16 that died when a Chinook aircraft was hit by a missile near Fallujah.
Despite the ongoing dangers, Christians continue to spread their faith in Christ, BosNewsLife has established. A new Seventh-day Adventist Church has been opened in the city of Mosul, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Baghdad, the Adventist News Network (ANN) said.
"BOLD MOVE"
The dedication service, witnessed by 100 members and visitors from neighbouring towns, took place Nov. 1, regarded "as a “bold move," considering the continued lawlessness in the area," ANN reported.
Mosul is considered the cradle of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Iraq. The first church in that country was established in March of 1923 after missionary W.K. Ising baptized seven people. In 1931 a church school was opened.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has been present in Iraq for 80 years. Some 400 people worship weekly in four congregations in the country.
