A Christian woman inspects a home in the town of Bartella east of Mosul, Iraq, after it was liberated from Islamic State militants November 23, 2016. | Reuters/Khalid al Mousily
A church in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad that witnessed the massacre of dozens of worshipers by al-Qaida gunmen in 2010 celebrated Christmas in their place of worship for the first time in 10 years, with their faith still intact.
“I couldn’t feel the spirit of Christmas again,” Nawras Sabah William, a member of the Lady of Salvation church who was 18 at the time of the massacre, told The Sunday Times.
“No one thinks they’re going to go to church and never come home,” he added, as he, along with other members of the community, gathered at the church, amid security guards and police officers, to celebrate Christmas and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massacre.
A Christian woman inspects a home in the town of Bartella east of Mosul, Iraq, after it was liberated from Islamic State militants November 23, 2016. | Reuters/Khalid al Mousily
A church in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad that witnessed the massacre of dozens of worshipers by al-Qaida gunmen in 2010 celebrated Christmas in their place of worship for the first time in 10 years, with their faith still intact.
“I couldn’t feel the spirit of Christmas again,” Nawras Sabah William, a member of the Lady of Salvation church who was 18 at the time of the massacre, told The Sunday Times.
“No one thinks they’re going to go to church and never come home,” he added, as he, along with other members of the community, gathered at the church, amid security guards and police officers, to celebrate Christmas and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massacre.