Buses of Christian Students Bombed in Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq, MAY 3, 2010 thanks to Zenit.org


Four people were killed and 171 were wounded Sunday when a bus convoy carrying Christian students to the University of Mosul was attacked.

Chaldean Archbishop Emil Nona told the Italian bishops' news service about the "devastating" explosion.

There was first an explosive device and then a car bomb that reached three of the buses. Each bus takes about 50 students, ranging in age from 18 to 26.

After the explosions, dozens of the young people were taken to hospitals in Erbil. Seventeen continued in graved condition.

"We are seeing another, the umpteenth, attack against Christians," Archbishop Nona said. "The violence continues without relief."

An auxiliary of the Chaldean Patriarch, Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, lamented today that no one in the administration had spoken out to express solidarity with the Christian community.

"Truly, we do not know what to do with this violence," he said.

Redemptorist Father Bashar Warda lamented that the attack was particularly shocking because it was not against soldiers or the military, "but just students, who had their books, their pens and their dreams to grow up and serve their county."