Bombs damaged five churches in Baghdad early today in a fresh wave of attacks aimed at Iraq's small but deep-rooted Christian community.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said the series of explosions starting at 4 a.m. (2 a.m. Irish time) caused no casualties and there was no immediate word on the identity or motives of the assailants.
The attacks are likely to unnerve Iraqi Christians already shaken by bombs that killed 11 people in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul in August.
The ministry identified the churches attacked on Saturday as St Joseph's, St Jacob's, St George's, St Thomas's and St Rum's.
The US military has accused Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of carrying out bombings specifically aimed at fuelling sectarian discord and sparking civil war in Iraq.
Iraq's estimated 650,000 Christians - mostly Chaldeans, Assyrians and Catholics - make up three per cent of the population.
Some say they were free from violence and persecution under toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Like other Iraqis, they have witnessed relentless suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings in the security vacuum created by last year's US-led invasion.
Many Christians feel they are becoming targets for Muslim militants in their ancient homeland, where serious attacks on their community had been rare.