Iraq, December 23: A bomb attack near a church in the Iraqi city of Mosul killed two passersby and wounded five others.
The violence in the restive northern city comes after the Iraqi army said last week it had put its forces on alert.
“Around 11 am (0800 GMT), a handcart used to carry flour, left across the street from the Syrian Orthodox church of St Thomas, exploded and caused damage” to the building, witness Hamis Paulos said.
A hospital official in Mosul, north of Baghdad, said “the new toll is two dead and five wounded, because one of the injured died.”
“According to their identity cards, the two dead were Muslims.”
A previous toll from police had said that one person had been killed and six wounded.
Last year violence claimed the lives of 40 members of the Christian community.
Observers say Christians are in no way more threatened than average Iraqis.
An estimated 1.3 million Iraqis have been killed in Iraq as a direct result of the invasion, while millions more have fled the country.
Although violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq compared to last year, attacks remain common in Mosul and the capital Baghdad.
The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is viewed by critics as an ‘act of aggression’ that violated international law.
Subsequent US occupation policies caused the country to descend into almost total chaos, bordering on civil war.
—Agencies