Iraqi Christians defiant in face of church attacks

Baghdad, Iraq - Iraqi Christians remained defiant in the wake of Sunday night's attack on a church in eastern Baghdad that left at least four dead and 18 injured. "If anyone thinks that these terrorist attacks will force us or our friends from our home, they must be crazy," Nahla Sabbah, a 34-year-old Christian civil servant told the German Press Agency dpa.

She was speaking the day after a car bomb killed four people, including one Muslim, as worshippers left Sunday mass at a church on eastern Baghdad's Palestine Street.

Also on Sunday, a bomb exploded as a US convoy including US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill passed through the southern province of Dhi Qar. No one was injured.

Sabbah blamed "foreign powers that want to sow discord between the various sects in Iraq" for the attacks.

Sahir Buhanam, a 48-year-old Christian from Baghdad, agreed.

"Everyone should know that this is our country," he said. "Our long history here gives us just as much right to it as any other religious or ethnic group. We won't relinquish that to anyone."

Christian lawmaker Yonadam Kana likewise told