Church efforts to rebuild bombed Mosul properties yield mixed results

Published: 2005-12-08

ROME (CNS) -- One year after terrorists launched bomb attacks against Catholic properties in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, at least one of the buildings has been relocated, but another has not been touched because it is in a volatile area of the city. On Dec. 7, 2004, an armed group of commandos stormed an Armenian Catholic church, ushered everyone out of the building, then detonated two bombs, reducing the church to rubble. Some two hours later, a group of armed men attacked the Chaldean bishop's residence in another part of the city. The men set off explosives, which engulfed the residence in flames. The bishop's residence has been relocated and "the new house is small, but welcoming," said Chaldean Father Ragheed Ganni. Dominican Father Mekhail Nageeb in Mosul said although the Armenian church had received funding for reconstruction, he did not believe building had begun because the church was in a volatile area.

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