Attempt to blow up Mosul church foiled

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi forces and national intelligence personnel managed to thwart an attempt to blow up a church in central Mosul city on Thursday, according to a military source. “An Iraqi army’s 2nd Division force, in coordination with the national intelligence service, foiled an attempt to detonate a church in the area of al-Dawwasa, central Mosul, as the force seized six improvised explosive devices and two explosive belts prepared for detonation near the church,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. He did not give further details. Baghdad had last week witnessed attacks with IEDs targeting five houses inhabited by Christians, leaving one killed and nine wounded. The attacks were the most violent against Christians since those on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010. The attacks prompted Christians to relocate for the Iraqi Kurdistan Region or outside Iraq amidst mounting international calls to intensify efforts to protect them and Iraqi political and security leaders’ pledges to do more in this respect. Mosul, the capital city of the troubled multi-ethnic province of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 73