Source: The Detroit News
Wire Service: AP
An Iraqi Christian leader told mourners Monday that the slayings of three Christians a day earlier was an act of religious terrorism that raised fears of more sectarian violence in the northern city of Kirkuk.
The attackers shot the victims at point-blank range in the head and chest at their homes.
"Innocent people who have no relation with politics and never harmed anyone were killed by terrorists in their homes just because they were Christians," said Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako a day after gunmen attacked two Christian houses in separate attacks.
Iraqi officials have struggled over how to resolve the deep ethnic rifts in Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad. The oil-rich area is at the center of a power contest between the majority Kurds and Arabs, but it also includes ethnic Turks and various Christian groups.