VATICAN CITY, March 23, 2008
Easter Marked By Prayers, Marred By Blood
As Christians Celebrate Holy Day Around The World, Soldiers Come Under Fire In Baghdad
-
-
Armenian priests consecrate some one hundred red eggs during an Easter mass in the town of Varna, north-east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Sunday, March, 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Petar Petrov)
-
Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful as he leaves after celebrating mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
-
Iraqi Christians touch a cross, during an Easter service in a church in Baghdad, Sunday, March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
-
U.S. soldiers read verses as they celebrate Easter with a sunrise service at Camp Victory, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 23, 2008. Suspected Shiite extremists fired two barrages Sunday at the U.S.-protected Green Zone, and a suicide bomber stuck an Iraqi army position in northern Iraq, killing 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 50 others. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
-
U.S. Army soldiers scramble out of a bunker after getting the "all clear" signal, after a car bomb disrupted a sunrise worship service to celebrate Easter Sunday at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
-
-
Photo Essay Easter Around The World Celebrations mark one of the holiest of days.
The Roman Catholic Church's leader in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, led a procession of clergymen through the church. Wearing white-and-gold robes and holding a silver staff, Sabbah chanted hymns in Latin as he circled the structure.
Tamera Perry, 39, a high school teacher from Silver City, New Mexico, said she planned to videotape the Easter Mass and send it over the Internet to her church at home, where it would be shown on a projector at the Easter service.
She hoped to transmit something of the experience of being in Jerusalem for the holiday, Perry said.
"I get a real sense of the surroundings here, being where Jesus walked and walking the hills that he walked," she said.
Not all believers chose to mark Easter at the Holy Sepulcher. Some Protestants venerate a spot outside the Old City known as the Garden Tomb as the site of Jesus' burial, and groups gathered there early Sunday to sing songs accompanied by a rock band. Some raised their hands and swayed to the music.
"We can say that resurrection day was the happiest day in history," Peter Wells, the site's chaplain, told the crowd, speaking at a podium bearing the words, "Jesus Is Alive."
"So once again, the Lord is risen," Wells said, and the assembled believers answered in unison: "The Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah!"
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in Jerusalem on Sunday, marked Easter with a service at the U.S. consulate before setting out for a day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Suicide Bomb Kills 13 Iraqi Soldiers; U.S.-Protected Green Zone Comes Under Fire
A suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded dozens more people in Iraq's north on Sunday. Meanwhile, the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad came under fire from either mortars or rockets, and a round that fell short injured two bystanders.
The Easter Sunday attacks underscored the fragility of Iraq's security, despite a decline in violence over the past year. They also came as the U.S. military death toll in Iraq nears 4,000.
Iraqi security forces opened fire on the bomber as he drove toward the military base in the northwestern city of Mosul but were unable to foil the attack because the truck's windshield had been made bullet-proof.
The attacker blasted through an armored vehicle to reach the courtyard of the military headquarters, according to an Iraqi army officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
Police said at least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 people wounded - 30 soldiers and 12 civilians - in the attack. Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been described by the U.S. as the last urban stronghold of the Sunni-led al Qaeda in Iraq.
Shiite extremists were suspected to be behind the barrages against the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government headquarters.
About 10 detonations were heard starting shortly before 6 a.m in the sprawling area in central Baghdad. Several other mortars or rockets slammed into the area about four hours later.
The U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and cover" and to stay away from windows following both attacks.
No casualties were reported inside the Green Zone, a frequent target of rocket and mortar attacks that is located on the west bank of the Tigris River. But one round fell short and exploded in a major traffic circle on the east side of the river, injuring two people nearby, police said.
There were no claims of responsibility for the barrages, but it appeared the rounds were fired from areas of eastern Baghdad where the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, operates.
A cease-fire called by al-Sadr, along with an increase in U.S. troop levels and a move by American-backed Sunni fighters to turn against their former al Qaeda in Iraq allies, have been credited with sharply reducing violence in Baghdad and surrounding areas.
But there are fears that the cease-fire may unravel after a series of clashes between U.S.-Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen in Baghdad, Kut and other areas south of the capital.
In other violence Sunday, a blast killed eight, including two women and two children, in southeastern Baghdad, police said. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.
On Saturday, U.S. officials said three American soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing that also killed two Iraqi civilians northwest of Baghdad. The latest deaths brought to 3,996 the number of U.S. service members and Pentagon civilians who have died since the war began on March 20, 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
A suicide bomber late Saturday also drove a truck laden with explosives into the home of the mayor in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Three security guards were killed and four others injured, police said.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From World
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 28
- next
See all 551 CommentsSo, according to TruthWord, he is not sane.
Posted by honestabe8 at 12:28 PM : Mar 26, 2008
He said it. We just drew the logical inference. Too bad nobody ever showed him how a Venn diagram works.
WOW.............
it makes sence now.....
These are the types of people who are dangerous in our society. They are completely psycho and have no tolerance towards Christians, so they attack.
To all the sane posters and other Christians on these boards: Be warned.
Posted by truthword08 at 10:19 AM : Mar 26, 2008
Really? The only posts I''ve seen from TruthWord08 have been prostelytizing for Jesus. Can you give us an example of one of the atheist posts?
By the way rick, since you have no tolerance at all for gay people, do you think you have a leg to stand on?
Some atheist/secularist has taken the time to hack into not only my sign on name on here, but evidently my email account as well.
These are the types of people who are dangerous in our society. They are completely psycho and have no tolerance towards Christians, so they attack.
To all the sane posters and other Christians on these boards: Be warned.
Posted by Providence_ at 12:07 AM : Mar 26, 2008
I see, that''s too bad, must have been very painful for you growing up. My parents were and are married. They brought me up to be a christian, but they over-educated me and I ended up going with my gut instinct, which I had when I was eight, which was: "This is crazy, you mean to tell me my salvation depends on whether I accept this guy as my lord and saviour? That''s whacked, I can''t help what I do or do not believe in. I believe what makes sense, and I don''t believe what makes no sense. This krap makes no sense, so I don''t believe!" Even as a child I could tell that the emperor had no clothes!
Did you ever go to church?
Posted by Providence_ at 11:59 PM : Mar 25, 2008
Were you a heavy drug-user who needed Jesus to help get you off your addiction? It''s okay if you did. Lots of people need a crutch to deal with their drug addiction. Now that you have your habit kicked though, it''s time to take that next step to start believing yourself again.
and did you feel loved?
You do not need to answer the last question if you do not want to, OK.
Did you ever go to church?
Posted by Providence_ at 11:59 PM : Mar 25, 2008
Wow, you have the whole David Koresh thing down. Sorry, you''ll have to find another sucker. But now that we are on the subject, let''s hear about your mom and dad. Sounds like your parents were not married. True? (Most religious fanatics had traumatic childhoods and turned to religion to help heal the pain.)
was singinrick helpful towards anything you might have been sharing?
Posted by TruthWord08 at 09:37 AM : Mar 24, 2008
Singinrick is a liar. He refuses to admit that he is TruthWord08. Rick, do you know you are violating one of the ten commandments? I think that gets you about 10,000 years in hell, but no worries, it''s only a blip in eternity.
and did you feel loved?
You do not need to answer the last question if you do not want to, OK.
Did you ever go to church?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 28
- next
See all 551 Comments