REPORT: Christmas bombings kill 34 in Iraq

At least 34 people were killed in three bombings in Christian areas of Baghdad on Wednesday, including a car bomb that exploded as worshippers were leaving a Christmas service, Iraqi police and medics said.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least 10 people were killed in three attacks that targeted police and Shi'ite pilgrims, police said.

Iraq is enduring its deadliest violence in years, reviving memories of the sectarian bloodshed between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims that killed tens of thousands in 2006-07. 

The day's deadliest incident occurred in the Doura district of southern Baghdad when the car bomb went off as Christians were emerging from a Christmas mass, killing at least 24 people.    

Shortly before, two bombs in a crowded market in a separate, mostly Christian area of Doura killed another 10 people.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad, which also wounded 52 people.

Iraq's fast-dwindling Christian minority has been a target of al Qaeda Sunni militants in the past, including a 2010 attack on a church that killed dozens of people.


REUTERS


To watch Remmy Derbass' full report, please click on the video above