TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010
KLMNO
Survivors describe deadly attack on Baghdad church
‘There was unbelievable fear among the people’
BY ERNESTO LONDONO
baghdad — The worshipers heard the first shots and explo- sions about 20 minutes after the beginning of SundayMass at Our Lady of SalvationChurch. Heads turned, the sermon
stopped abruptly and the Rev. Wassem Sabeeh quietly began usheringparishioners into a forti- fiedroomintherearof thechurch. “We realized these explosions
were close,” said BassamSami, 21, one of the survivors of the attack on a Baghdad church carried out byheavily armedsuicide bombers that left at least 58 people dead. “Father Wassem started pushing people inside the room.” Once they penetrated the
church building, the silent assail- ants began executing people. “They were well trained,” Sami said. “They didn’t say anything. It was likesomeonehadcutout their tongues.” The carnage that unfolded dur-
ing the next few hours outraged many in a city that has seenmore than its share of bloodshed. The siege suggested that al-Qaeda in Iraq, the weakened Sunni insur- gentgroupthatassertedresponsi- bility for the attack, remains capa- ble of carrying out mass-casualty operations. The target, an Assyrian Chris-
tian church in the upscale Karra- da neighborhood, was highly un- usual. The extremist group has in the past year directed its dwin- dling resources toward crippling symbols of the Shiite-led Iraqi government. An Iraqi official said Monday
that investigatorshadfoundat the scene threeYemeni andtwoEgyp- tian passports thought to have belonged to the suicide bombers. If confirmed, the findingwouldbe alarming toU.S. andIraqi officials because they say al-Qaeda in Iraq has struggled to recruit foreign fighters in recent years. In a statement posted on the
Internet earlyMonday, the Islam- ic State of Iraq, a front group for al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted respon- sibility for the attack. It said the attackersweremoti-
vatedbythereportedabductionof Muslim women by Catholic Church officials in Egypt. The statement appeared to allude to the disappearance of thewife of a Coptic Church priest in Cairo. Muslimprotesters intheEgyptian capital have accused church offi- cials of abducting the woman af- ter she voluntarily converted to Islam. Church officials have denied
the allegation. The case has re- ceived heavy media coverage in
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Women mourn relatives who were among the 58 people killed in the Sunday attack. Al-Qaeda in Iraq asserted responsibility onMonday.
Egypt, where Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of the population. Clashes between Muslims and Christians have erupted there sporadically in re- cent years. Before Monday, the controver-
sy had gone largely unnoticed in Iraq, where most headlines these days are about stalled negotia- tions to form a government after the March 7 parliamentary elec- tions. It isnot clearwhy theassailants
chose to make the prominent Iraqi churcha battleground inthe case of themissingwoman. Witnesses and authorities pro-
vided the following account of the attack: The gunmen drove up to the
church by way of a quiet street where, according to residents, au- thorities in recent days had re- moved cement barriers to open the way to traffic. The assailants, dressed in khaki pants and armed with AK-47 assault rifles, gre- nades and suicide vests, parked a gray Dodge sport-utility vehicle near the rear of the church. When they began tossing bags
across a seven-footwall that rings the church, guards at a nearby branch of the Baghdad stock ex- change became alarmed. A gun- fight broke out, leaving two ex- change guards dead. The attackers detonated explo-
sives that were in the vehicle, making nearbywindows crack. A second blast thundered near
the rear door of the church, ram- ming it open. Some officials said a grenade caused the explosion, while others suggested the trigger was a suicide vest. Sabeeh, the priest, was among
the first people executed after the assailants got inside. Another priest, Thaer Abdullah, was also killed. Throngs of Iraqi authorities
gathered outside the church as U.S. military helicopters hovered overhead. Inside the church, about 60 pa-
rishioners were huddled in the safe room, praying and crying, when one of the assailants tossed a grenade inside, Sami said. “There was unbelievable fear
among the people,” he said. “I cannot describe what we’ve been through.” Shortlyafter9p.m.,after realiz-
ingthathostageshadbeenexecut- ed, a team of U.S.-trained Iraqi commandos stormed into the church fromall sides. At least five suicide bombers detonated explo- sives, killing seven of the troops. U.S.officialssaidtheIraqisreal-
ized the operation was risky but deemeditnecessary inlight of the loss of life that took place during the early phase of the siege. “Theyrespondedoutofnecessi-
ty,” a U.S. official briefed on the operation said Monday. “There was a real possibility that they would have killed all the hostages inside.” Members of the Assyrian
church stood outside Monday morning and wept as they stared at the building’s blood-streaked walls. Most of the church’s win- dows were shattered, as were plaques from graves in the church’s outer patio. “We have nothing left here,”
Juloud Peshtu said as she stood outside. “We are theminority.We cannotdefendourselves.We can- not stay in this country any- more.” AmjedMajeed,wholivesacross
the street from the church, watched as senior Iraqi govern- ment officials, trailed by heavily armedmen, walked in and out of the church. “No one came here to ask us
how we’re doing,” he said angrily, standing outside his now-win- dowless two-story house. “No one asked howthe children are doing. No one came to offer us compen- sation.”
londonoe@washpost.com
Special correspondent Aziz Alwan contributed to this report.
U.S. diplomat calls for action by Syria
SaysDamascusmust work to restrain Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon
BY GLENN KESSLER Syria needs to pressure Iran
and Hezbollah to rein in their activities inLebanon if it wants to rebuild relations with the United States, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East said in an inter- view.
“Syria and the United States
have taken some modest steps to see ifwecan improve the bilateral relationship,” said Jeffrey D. Felt- man, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. “But this cannot go very far as long as Syria’s friends are under- mining stability in Lebanon. We have made that absolutely clear to the Syrians. There is a cost to the potential in our bilateral rela- tionship to what Syria’s friends are doing in Lebanon.” Tensions have been running
high in Lebanon in recent weeks as a U.N.-mandated tribunal nears completion of its investiga- tion into the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The investigation is ex- pected to indict Hezbollah mem- bers; the group’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, last week warned Leb- anon against cooperating with the probe. Syria has also de- nounced the tribunal. There are growing concerns
about Lebanon’s political stabili- ty. The coalition government of the prime minister, Saad Hariri, son of Rafiq, appears fragile. Meanwhile, a triumphal visit to Lebanon last month by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadine-
jad, who made a provocative tour of the border with Israel, has alarmed some in the region. Feltman’s comments came just
days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lashed out at Washington, accusing it of sow- ing chaos across the world. “Is Afghanistan stable? Is Somalia stable? Did they bring stability to Lebanon in 1983?” Assad said in an interview with al-Hayat news- paper, referring to U.S. interven- tion inLebanon’s 15-year civilwar that ended in 1990. The Obama administration
has dispatched numerous envoys to meet with Assad in an effort to wean him away from the Iranian camp and to drawhim into peace talks with Israel. Feltman dis- counted Iranian influence on Syr- ia, saying that unless Damascus mends relations with Washing- ton, it has no chance of winning the return of the Golan Heights, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-DayWar. “Syria has said that it wishes to
have its territorial expectations met through a peace agreement with Israel and that Syria recog- nizes the essential role that we can play in achieving that,” Felt- man said. “So this suggests to me that Syria is in fact interested in a better relationship with us. But our interest in a comprehensive peace doesn’t mean that we are going to start trading our other interests in Iraq or Lebanon in order to get Damascus to like us better.” Feltman said the administra-
tion is “deeply concerned” about Lebanon.He described his recent visit there asashowofsupport for PresidentMichel Suleiman and a reaffirmation of U.S. support for the tribunal’s work. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
also recently called Suleiman, who has the difficult job of man- aging Lebanon’s deeply polarized political space. Feltman said that given such divisions, itwasimportant for the United Statesandothers “toshow there is not a vacuumonthe other side” and support the viability of the Lebanese state. “No matter how much Hezbollah huffs and puffs, the special tribunal forLeb- anon’s work continues,” he said. But Feltman refrained from
naming any consequences for Syria and Iran if they undermine the Lebanese government, except to say that Syria risks losing an opportunity to improve ties with Washington. Syria in recent years has also rebuilt relations with Saudi Arabia and France — both of which had shunned Damascus after Hariri’s killing — and those ties could also suffer if the Leba- nese government collapses. Feltman rejected the notion
that Ahmadinejad’s visit would have long-lasting effects. He not- ed that Ahmadinejad was in trou- ble back home, suggesting that his trip was part of “the age-old custom of leaders, of when they have troubles at home, [they] tend to try to dabble in foreign policy and stage some sort of triumphant foreign tour.” Feltman also pushed back
against the theory that Syria has spurned President Obama’s en- treaties because it believes Iran is winning power and influence in the region. “I hear these tales that Iran is winning in Iraq, but Idon’t see any examples of the facts supporting that argument,” he said, ticking off setbacks that he said Iran had suffered in its effort to influence the shaping of the newIraqi government.
kesslerg@washpost.com
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