Gunmen attack Catholic church in Baghdad

At least 37 people were killed when police stormed a Catholic church in Baghdad on Sunday after gunmen took dozens of parishioners hostage and threatened to shoot them if al Qaeda prisoners were not released.

According to vesti.ru, seven security force members and 37 Christians were killed when US and Iraqi forces stormed a Baghdad cathedral to free dozens of hostages, an official said Monday, as an Al-Qaeda group claimed the attack.

Among those killed in the Sunday night hostage drama were five women, seven children and two priests, an interior ministry official and witnesses said. Ten women, eight children and a priest were among the wounded.

The gunmen had attacked during evening mass after killing two guards at the nearby headquarters of the Baghdad stock exchange.

At least one of the deaths came before the rescue operation: one of the freed hostages, an 18-year-old man, said the first thing the gunmen did when they entered the church was to shoot the priest.