From AFP

A car bomb targeted a church in the Iraqi capital Wednesday as worshippers left after Christmas Mass, killing at least 17 people, most of them Christians, security officials said.

The blast in the Dura area of south Baghdad also wounded at least 34 people, the sources said.

"The attack targeted the church, and most of the martyrs are Christians," a police colonel told AFP.

The attack on St. John church occurred when worshippers were leaving "after attending Christmas Mass" he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

"Attacks distort the image of Islam and religion, if they are carrying them out in the name of religion," Monsignor Pios Cacha of Baghdad's St. Joseph church told AFP.

"The church is a place of love and peace, and not for wars," Cacha said.

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