RTTNews:

Christian Woman Who Survived Iraq Church Massacre Killed In Militant Attack

(RTTNews) - A survivor of the Christian church massacre in Iraq two months ago was killed in the continuing spree of violence targeting the community in the country.

A Christian woman in the Karrada district of central Baghdad was shot to death at dawn on Monday while she was asleep, reports quoting Iraq's interior ministry said.

The assailants also robbed Rafah Butros Toma, who lived alone in Al-Wahda neighborhood, of her possessions.

She was a witness to the massacre of worshipers in a failed rescue operation by Iraqi security forces in a Catholic church in central Baghdad on October 31.

44 congregants and two priests who assembled in Our Lady of Salvation Church for an evening mass were killed hours after militants held them hostage demanding the release of all al-Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt, including two Muslim women.

Seven security force personnel who were deployed for rescue operation were also killed.

Rafah Toma survived the suicide-bomb attack but her cousin was killed.

It was followed by a threat from 'Islamic State of Iraq' that it will attack Christians in Iraq and other parts of the world.

Several people were killed and dozens of others injured when militants unleashed a spate of attacks targeting Christian settlements across central and western Baghdad since then.

The serial attacks had raised international concern, including from the United States, the U.N. Security Council, and the Vatican.

Iraq was home to one million Christians at the time of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but the Christian population reportedly dwindled by almost half over the years, as the rest left their homeland for safer destinations.

In other incidents in Iraq on Monday, a police officer was shot dead in the Sarafiya neighborhood of northern Baghdad, while three people were killed and 26 others hurt in a bomb explosion outside an Iraqi intelligence services office in central Baquba.