Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 VOA News Christmas celebrations have been canceled for many Christians this year in Iraq on one of their holiest days of the year.
Iraqi Christian leaders across the country Wednesday called off Christmas festivities out of fear they will be a target of militant attacks.
The cancelations come as
Many Christians in Iraq have lived in fear after an October 31 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for that attack, which killed at least 57 people, including more than 40 Catholic worshippers and two priests.
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako said Tuesday that Christians in the northern city of Kirkuk would celebrate a Christmas Mass only in the morning rather than their traditional midnight Mass.
He told VOA he has received threats from the Islamic State of Iraq.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged Iraq's government to do more to protect its Christian minority from a possible increase in attacks during the Christmas season.
As many as 1.2 million Christians lived in Iraq before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to oust leader Saddam Hussein. Many have since fled abroad due to sectarian strife and stepped-up violence by al-Qaida-linked Muslim insurgents.
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