Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbath

It seems the church was the attackers’ real target, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad.

One eyewitness, who was inside the church, said the gunmen “came into the prayer hall and immediately killed the priest”. The witness, who declined to give his name, said worshippers were beaten and herded into an inne hall.

There was an hours-long stand-off as security forces surrounded the building with helicopters hovering overhead.

The militants made contact with the authorities by mobile phone, demanding the release of al-Qaeda prisoners and also of a number of Muslim women they insisted were being held prisoner by the Coptic Church in Egypt.

But the discussions got nowhere, our correspondent says, and the security forces stormed the church.

Witnesses nearby said they then heard two explosions from inside the church and more shooting. The gunmen reportedly threw grenades and detonated their suicide vests.

Maj Gen Hussein Kamal said 52 “martyrs” had died in the fighting, along with six attackers, though a police source earlier said 37 people – worshippers, security forces and attackers – had been killed.

The number of wounded are put at between 56 and 62 – many of them women.

Pope Benedict XVI denounced the attack as he gave a holiday blessing on Monday. He said two priests had died in the siege, though it was unclear whether both were killed in the initial attempt to take hostages or during the raid by security services.

He said he was praying for the victims “of this absurd violence, made more ferocious because it was directed against unarmed people gathered in the house of God”.

He called for a new effort to end the violence.