Iraqi leaders condemn church bombings, Turkish hostage killed

Iraqi leaders on Monday condemned Sunday's coordinated church bombings in Baghdad and Mosul, as an Islamist website showed footage of a Turkish hostage being shot dead by captors.

Interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar condemned the church bombings on Sunday evening, calling on Iraqis to stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of the "terrorist explosions".

"Such terrorist acts that harm our people are evidence of hatred of those who conduct such crimes against all the Iraqi people," al-Yawar said in a statement released by his office.

"We call upon our people to stand shoulder to shoulder against those who kill our brothers, sons and destroy our homes and places of worship," he added.

Four Christian churches in Baghdad and two in Mosul were targeted Sunday in a series of coordinated car bomb attacks. At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded.

It was the first attack targeting the country's Christian minority since the US-led military operation toppled the former regime of Saddam Hussein last spring.

The Iraqi government accused militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born suspected al-Qaida ally, of masterminding these attacks, vowing to defeat the terrorist group and bring security to Iraqis.

"There is no doubt that the attacks bear the blueprint of (Jordan's Islamist extremist) Zarqawi," national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said.

Rubaie declared that an emergency meeting would be held on Monday to discuss the blasts, pledging that the interim government will defeat the terrorist groups and bring security to all Iraqis.

Also on Monday, an Islamic website showed a sequence of five pictures, showing a man identified as a Turk being gunned down by masked militants, purportedly affiliated to al-Qaida linked, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

This execution was the latest in a series of hostage killings.

A Turkish truckers association declared Monday that it would stop the transport of cargo to US forces in Iraq in view of the current insecurity.

Al-Zarqawi, the top US militant target in Iraq, has a 25-million-US dollar bounty on his head.

Source: Xinhua