In recent months, deadly attacks targeted Shiite Muslim pilgrims in Najaf and Karbala, where the Muslim Peacemaker Teams is based, and Syriac Christians in the Baghdad neighborhood where CPTers lived until 2006.
A priest close to the team back then was among those who cleaned up blood and body parts of the 58 people killed in Our Lady of Deliverance church on 31 October.
The attackers said their assault was in part revenge for a U.S. minister’s plan to burn the Koran.
“Sometimes when church-goers in North America threaten to light a match,” reflected CPTer Carol Rose, “the fire burns a brother’s or sister’s house far away.”