Hostage situation in Baghdad Stock Exchange/Catholic Church

[hayder]

Seven hostages killed in Iraq rescue mission

* Iraqi forces free about 100 people held hostage by gunmen inside church

* 8 attackers killed in standoff, after 4-hour siege

BAGHDAD: Seven worshippers were killed and at least 13 wounded in a rescue operation to end a hostage drama at a church in the Iraqi capital on Sunday, interior ministry officials said. “We have released the hostages but, unfortunately, we regret the deaths of seven of them, while another 20 were wounded,” said an interior ministry official.

Earlier, Iraqi security forces stormed the church in central Baghdad, freeing about 100 people held hostage by gunmen inside, officials said.

The violence began when militants first attacked the Iraqi stock exchange at dusk with grenades and automatic weapons. After battling security forces there, the militants fled to the nearby Catholic church, officials said.

Baghdad military spokesman Major Gen Qassim al-Moussawi said that after a nearly four-hour siege, Iraqi security forces overwhelmed the handful of insurgents in the church, killing eight attackers and freeing all of the hostages. He said one policeman was killed. But a city policeman and a hospital worker said two policemen were killed in the standoff.

Earlier, An American military spokesman, Lt Col Eric Bloom, said about 100 hostages were in the church when the attackers came in. US forces provided air support but did not have soldiers on the ground going into the church, Bloom said.

Meanwhile, two guards at the Baghdad’s stock exchange were killed in clashes with the gunmen, when they had tried to battle their way into the building, an interior ministry official said. “Four gunmen tried to force their way into the Baghdad stock exchange. Clashes erupted when the guards tried to stop them, and two guards were killed,” the official said. agencies

[Khalid]

Looks like Maj. Gen. Kassim is the new Baghdad Bob after al-Sahaf, I don't know how dare he lies in public like this!!!

I don't know by what standards he calls such fiasco a successful mission!!!

AFP: more than 120 civilians were inside the church, almost half of them dead (app. 58), others were wounded (app. 78), including 12 policemen and 5 bystanders, most of the casualties were inflicted during the fiasco....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101101/ap_ ... ea/ml_iraq

I wonder what they are going to do with 5 captured militants, I bet there will be nothing to be heard about them just like the previous murderous terrorist attacks against civilians...

RIP Iraq...

[hayder]

Looks like Maj. Gen. Kassim is the new Baghdad Bob after al-Sahaf, I don't know how dare he lies in public like this!!!

I don't know by what standards he calls such fiasco a successful mission!!!

AFP: more than 120 civilians were inside the church, almost half of them dead (app. 58), others were wounded (app. 78), including 12 policemen and 5 bystanders, most of the casualties were inflicted during the fiasco....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101101/ap_ ... ea/ml_iraq

I wonder what they are going to do with 5 captured militants, I bet there will be nothing to be heard about them just like the previous murderous terrorist attacks against civilians...

RIP Iraq...

The 58 people who died included 12 policemen and five bystanders from the car bombing and other blasts outside the church. Forty-one Christians inside the church also died, including two priests.

That's a very bad fate. But compared to Russian SF in Beslan and the Moscow theatre, the SF did their best (and took many casualties to save the people). Some of the terrorists managed to blow themselves up (others were shot by a sniper before they could detonate themselves).

The real tragedy is the fact that such a large group of terrorists could organise themselves and bring in so many weapons and explosives to the centre of Baghdad in broad daylight!! considering the hundreds of checkpoints along all the roads! Once they were inside and prepared to blow themselves up... large casualties were inevitable. The failure to stop them is a failure to prevent the attack in the first place.

[hayder]

here's some details from the new york times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/world ... gewanted=2

Confusion still reigned Monday over what precisely happened in the attack, in which an affiliate for Al Qaeda in Iraq, a homegrown group led by Iraqis, claimed responsibility. An American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said security forces made the decision to storm the church after believing that the assailants had begun killing the hostages. Had they not, he said, the toll would have been even worse.

“Our information was the hostage takers had begun to systematically execute hostages,” he said.

But Interior Ministry officials and survivors offered other accounts. One official said that 23 of the hostages were killed when two of the gunmen detonated suicide vests as security forces stormed the church. Another confirmed that account, but said that many hostages were killed soon after the gunmen, thought to number between 6 and 15, seized the building.

“We received orders to raid the church, so when we did, they blew themselves up and killed many, but they had already killed a number of civilians before the raid, those cowards,” said Jihad al-Jabiri, a senior official in the Interior Ministry.

Several survivors said that many of the casualties occurred when the gunmen entered and began firing randomly — at people, church icons and even windows. They described a ferocity on the part of the gunmen, some of them speaking in dialects from other Arab countries, as though the very sight of the church’s interior had enraged them.

“They seemed insane,” said Ban Abdullah, a 50-year-old survivor.

Her daughter, Marie Freij, was shot in the right leg as the gunmen entered. She lay in a pool of her own blood for more than three hours.

“I thought I would make it, but even if I didn’t, I was in the church, and it would have been O.K.,” she said from her bed at Ibn al-Nafis Hospital.

Before the gunmen entered, Rafael Qutaimi, a priest, had managed to herd many of the other survivors into a back room, where they barricaded themselves behind two bookshelves.

“Peace be upon you, Mary,” some prayed. “God in heaven, help us,” others muttered. In time, the gunmen learned they were there. Unable to break in, they hurled four grenades inside through a window, killing four and wounding many more, survivors said.

Mr. Sami was lucky. He escaped from the back room without any visible wounds. But on Monday, he listed his friends who had died the day before. Raghda, John, Rita, Father Wassim, Fadi, George, Nabil and Abu Saba.

“A long list,” he said simply. He shook his head, growing angry. “Why was Father Wassim killed? I don’t know. Why was Nabil killed? I don’t know.” He turned silent, and his eyes softened with the trace of tears.

[TangoIII]

US forces led assault to free Baghdad hostages: witnesses

BAGHDAD (AFP) – US SWAT teams led the deadly assault to free dozens of hostages held by Al-Qaeda gunmen at a Baghdad cathedral, witnesses said, but Iraqi officials insisted Monday only their own forces were involved.

"I was freed by Americans, they came first and the Iraqis came after," said an 18-year-old man outside the church, shortly after the deadly Sunday night drama ended with 37 worshippers killed, including two priests, and 56 wounded.

One man running excitedly towards the church, shortly after bomb explosions and gunfire fell silent, said his mother and young sister had just called him from inside.

"My mother just called me on her cellphone to say that the Americans have freed them, and she is waiting outside the church," said Yusef Fathallah, a 30-year-old shop owner.

An AFP journalist saw three US soldiers wearing assault gear standing in the shadows outside the church on Sunday night.

"There could have been more, but they were standing in the shadows," he said.

But Samir al-Shuaili, spokesman for Iraq's anti-terror forces, said no Americans took part in the assault.

"The anti-terror forces are the only forces who raided the church, there were no Americans at all. The police and Iraqi army were also there for support," he said.

An interior ministry official said that seven security forces personnel were killed and 15 wounded, but did not specify if any were Americans. US forces formally ended combat operations in September, following a drawdown that leaves 50,000 American soldiers in Iraq.

Eight of the gunmen were killed in the assault and five arrested, the interior ministry official added.

The 18-year-old witness said the first thing the gunmen did after swooping into the Sayidat al-Nejat Syrian Catholic church was to shoot one of the priests.

"They entered the church with their weapons, wearing military uniforms. They came into the prayer hall, and immediately killed the priest," the freed man told AFP.

He said all of the hostages had been huddled into the main prayer hall when the gunbattles began with security forces.

"We heard a lot of gunfire and explosions, and some people were hurt from falling windows, doors and debris," said the young man, whose father pulled him away before he could give his name.

The Chaldean bishop of Baghdad, Shlimoune Wardouni, said that two priests had been killed, and one shot in the kidney.

"It's a great sorrow, because this was an inhuman act. Even animals are not doing this to each other," Wardouni said.

Iraqi Christians have frequently been the target of violence, including murder and abductions. Hundreds have been killed and several churches attacked since the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003.

"What is clear now is that they (Christians) will all leave," said Pius Kasha, vicar of Iraq's Syriac Catholics.

The SITE monitoring group reported Monday that the Islamic State of Iraq, the local branch of Al-Qaeda, had claimed the Baghdad attack, saying its fighters had captured the Christians and also gave the Coptic church in Egypt a 48-hour deadline to release women it said were being held captive by Christians.

Violence has abated in Iraq since its peak in 2006-2007, but deadly bombings, gunfights and kidnappings are still routine.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101101/wl ... switnesses

[Baghdode]

اترككم وية الفيديو

تحرير رهائن كنيسة النجاة + فيديو استطلاع



جهاز مكافحة الارهاب العراقية

[Khalid]

The video shows the aftermath of the massacre, with a short clip of possibly the beginning of Iraqi security forces to storm the place, I guess it was taken from low hovering US chopper nearby...

I am afraid that Iraqi SWAT will have a bad reputation like the Russian counterpart due to their lack of good planning and unprecedented disregard to human lives.

[hayder]

That's unfair in my opinion. The Iraqi SF did not disregard/kill the hostages in the same way the russian SF did in the moscow theatre / beslan school. In fact under the circumstances of being faced with terrorists blowing themselves up, its a miracle they saved so many people in the first place.

The real incompetence was by the Iraqi intelligence services and the "baghdad security command" who are supposed to secure Baghdad against such large scale attacks.

[Khalid]

But the rescue attempt itself cause the terrorists to kill people en masse...
There should be negotiations going on, oh well, we don't have such word in our dictionaries

[Khalid]

Eye witnesses:




Summary:
1. There was no rescue mission, let alone a successful one...
2. Iraqi SF did nothing positive, but it did make the matter much worse.
3. Only one terrorist were Iraqi, and there is at least one Syrian terrorist.
4. At least one terrorist killed, others might escaped during the aftermath chaos!
5. Allegations of conspiracy.
6. Maliki, Obaidi, Polani and Mosawi are all liars.

Seriously, we had enough of the former regime's lies, now the current "democratic and transparent" regime is nothing but uglier...

Almost 20 minutes of footage of the wounded innocents extraction "mission":
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ... 8306627887
Warning: explicit scenes, severed human bodies included.

Conclusions:
1. Iraqi Anti-Terror Force came at the end of the massacre, no opposition at all.
2. Total chaos and lack of planning.

Read the comments too.......

Baghdode please next time upload full video clips........

[hayder]

With all due respect.

negotiate? they were intent on killing everyone (including themselves). These hostages would not be alive today if it were not for the SF rescuing them. not one of them. they would all be 6 feet under. and that is a fact.

As I heard (correct me if i'm wrong) they started killing as soon as they came in. In fact the only mistake by the SF is not storming in as soon as they assembled.

Perhaps someone should have asked if any of them would have been alive today had the SF not stormed in? The SF guys could have stayed at home, and they wouldn't have lost 10 of their comrades rescuing these rather ungrateful hostages.

agreed about the assholes in parliament, and the fault really ultimately lies with the baghdad operations command in not preventing the attack in the first place. the SF ultimately managed to salvage some of the mess that the Baghdad Operations Command.

[Khalid]

For wisdom and logic's sake!!! Why the survivors should be ever grateful to them?

As those 3 witnesses said, with many others, they came AFTER the terrorists emptied their ammo (including hand grenades), someone of them even lost his mind due to desperation and blew himself up, I bet that if the SF delayed their mission even more, the hostages would then free themselves instead!!!

I think only 5 policemen were killed (guards of Baghdad's stock exchange), if there were casualties among SF/Anti-Terror personnel, then it was probably blue-on-blue incidents during the chaos of entering the church...

I don't think that 50+ survivors would ever lie about what happened, and if you noticed, there are about 2 or 3 survivors who were thanking soldiers, because they thought that those soldiers really did something to enter and free them up, due to the fact that those survivors were imprisoned in the basement and/or priests' chambers and didn't know what was really going on in the church's hall...

Furthermore, the 19 minutes footage neglects greatly the part where the soldiers were blowing up the door to enter, the shootout and the evacuating the hostages who were hiding under the benches in the great hall (the two survivor/witness girls were there), most of them were wounded or in shock.

Therefore, I ask Baghdode to release this very important part to let us know what exactly happened there so everybody can know the truth.

[hayder]

yes indeed. much of the story is still clouded in mystery. And baghdode's videos on youtube doesn't show the actual storming part.

also it would be good to get the actual breakdown of casualties.

-number of terrorists in attack
-number of people inside the church
-number who were killed by the terrorists when they first entered
-number of people killed during the storming phase
-number of people shot by the security forces
-number of security forces killed in the initial attack
-number of security forces killed in the storming phase
-number of terrorists that blew themselves up (and when did they do it)
-details about the terrorists assembling point and initial attack vs the roadblocks around the area.

and many other questions... do we even know the accurate breakdown of casualties yet?

[Khalid]

No, each source puts different numbers, which adds a lot to the mystery and arguments that surrounds the tragic massacre...

And also what about the captured terrorists? we didn't see anything about them?

I bet they were either released shortly after by someone... or still free somewhere planning for their next atrocity...

[hayder]

yes. i heard there were captured terrorists, then I heard they all died. I heard one blew hiumself up, then i heard 4... etc... all information is confused.