Fifteen people were wounded on Tuesday by a car bomb targeting a Syrian Catholic church in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a police officer and a priest said.
The bomb exploded at the Holy Family church in the north of Kirkuk at about 5:30 am (0230 GMT), wounding 15 people including church staff and people in neighbouring houses, the high-ranking officer in the Kirkuk police said.
The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that 30 homes in the area were damaged.
Imad Hanna, a priest, said it was the first time the church had been targeted.
“Women, children and men from this neighbourhood were wounded in the explosion,” he said, added that two of the wounded were in critical condition.
The wounded were taken to Kirkuk General and Azadi hospitals, he added.
An AFP correspondent said that the doors, windows and generators at the church were destroyed, as well as pews inside.
Some cars in the area were also destroyed, he said.
Several old women gathered to pray inside the church after the blast, while other people gathered outside.
Some residents searched for belongings among the rubble of houses.
