BAGHDAD: At least 52 hostages and police officers were killed when security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held by al Qaeda-linked gunmen, Iraq’s Deputy Interior Minister Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal said on Monday.
Kamal said that 67 people were also injured in the raid on the church, which was seized by guerrillas during Sunday mass in the bloodiest attack in Iraq since August. The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid.
The gunmen took hostages at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, one of Baghdad’s largest and demanded the release of al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt.
“This death toll is for civilians and security force members. We don’t differentiate between police and civilians. They are all Iraqis,” Kamal said, adding the number did not include dead attackers.
At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighbourhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.
