Chaldean Bishop’s Palace and Catholic-Armenian Church attacked in Mosul

AsiaNews.it, Italy
Dec 7 2004

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Two Christian religious buildings in Mosul (northern
Iraq) were attacked today. Bombs were detonated in two separate but
similar attacks: one against an Armenian-Catholic church, the other
against the Chaldean Bishop’s Palace.

At 2:30 pm local time (GMT +3), some men entered the Armenian Catholic
church in the Wihda neighbourhood on the eastern part of the city. The
attackers forced out a security guard and two other people who were
there and then, according to eye witnesses, set off two bombs.

Around 4:30 pm, a group of four or five armed men stormed the Chaldean
Bishop’s Palace (see photo) which is on the right bank of the Tigris
River.

Only Fr Raghid Aziz Kara was inside since Bishop Paul Faraj Rahho was
away on pastoral duties. He told AsiaNews that after the attackers
ordered him to leave the premises, they proceeded to lay and then
detonate explosive devices. He heard three explosions and saw the
building engulfed in flames.

The Bishop’s Palace in Mosul is a modern, two-storey building,
inaugurated in 1995 by Mgr Georgis Garmo, Bishop Rahho’s predecessor.
The nearby Church of the Purification, which Muslims also venerate
because of its famous statue of Our Lady, was untouched.

Police immediately started looking for the attackers but so far with
no results.

The Chaldean Catholic diocese of Mosul is led by Bishop Paulos Faraj
Rahho and has 35,000 members. It has 12 parishes, 22 diocesan priests,
8 men and 20 women religious. (LF)