A car bomb struck a Shiite mosque and a nearby Christian church in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Monday, wounding three children, a provincial police source said.
"A booby-trapped car parked close to a Shiite mosque and a nearby church detonated in the morning, wounding three children and destroying parts of the mosque along with causing damages to the church," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The Shiite mosque has been empty and was deserted by Shiite worshippers since 2005 during the sectarian strife which engulfed the predominantly Sunni city of Mosul as well as the rest of country after the U.S.-led invasion. The sectarian conflict resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene, the source said, adding that orders were issued for the Iraqi security forces to intensify presence near Christian churches and other Muslim mosques after intelligence reports warned of further attacks.
Separately, the source said that Iraqi security forces sealed off the predominantly-Christian town of Hamdaniyah, 30 km east of Mosul, after intelligence reports said that insurgents had threatened to blow up churches there.
The security forces blocked the entrances of the town and imposed traffic ban to protect the churches, the source added.
Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is the capital of Nineveh province, which has been a stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida organization.
Late on Sunday, four bomb attacks targeted Christian churches in Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 29 others.
A fifth attacks occurred late at night, when an explosive- charge went off outside a church in Baghdad's district of Doura, wounding three people, and raising Monday's toll of attacks against Christian minority in Baghdad to four killed and 32 injured.
Recent attacks appear to have been intentionally targeting different ethnic groups, and analysts believe people behind these incidents were aimed at reigniting ethnic and sectarian conflicts.
Christians in the mainly Muslim Iraq are a minority group, and they have been from time to time targeted for attacks, particularly in Baghdad and northern provinces.
The attacks came days after U.S. combat troops have pulled out according to the Status of Forces Agreement. Both Iraq and U.S. officials have warned that more attacks could happen, testing abilities of Iraqi security forces.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2009)
