Lady Of Salvation - Church In Iraq

Church officials described the attack, which began when gunmen seized the Our Lady of Salvation Church during Sunday mass, as the bloodiest against Iraq's Christians in the seven years of sectarian war that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The Islamic State of Iraq, the al Qaeda-affiliated group which claimed responsibility, also threatened the Christian church in Egypt over its treatment of women the group said the church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Michael, a Christian, said at the scene of the Baghdad attack: "What happened was more than a catastrophic and tragic event. In my opinion, it is an attempt to force Iraqi Christians to leave Iraq and to empty Iraq of Christians."

Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal, a deputy interior minister, said 52 hostages were killed and 67 wounded in the incident, which ended with police storming the Assyrian Catholic church to free more than 100 hostages only after the Killers had run out of bullets!

At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighborhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.

"The attackers were among children, armed with weapons," a federal police source who declined to be identified said of Sunday's rescue effort. "Most of the casualties were killed or wounded when the security forces raided the place."

Officials say some of the attackers blew up explosives vests or threw grenades during the raid. Security sources said many of the victims died in gunfights between police and insurgents.

Iraq's Christians, who once numbered 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 30 million, have frequently been targeted by militants since the invasion, with churches bombed and priests assassinated. Many have fled.