Priest Killed in Drive-By Shooting in Iraq

Ashley Flaherty/April 4,2008 10:11 am/ Religious Conflict

A Christian priest was killed in Iraq in a drive-by shooting, a bomb also killed four more people in a seperate attack on Saturday. Priest Youssef Adel was driving to a church when a gunman in another car sped past and opened fire in Karradah. Since Iraq is a predominantly Islamic country but has many religious minorities such as Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who have faced frequent attacks. The pope expressed his deep pain over the killing of the Assyrian Orthodox priest and renewed his appeal for Iraq to find "the way of peace." The Vatican reported that the pope had sent a telegram to Adel's family offering his prayers and hoping that the Iraqi people will find the way to peace to build a just and tolerant society. Though security measures were lifted, sporadic gunshots rang out in Basra. Associated Press Television News footage showed neighbors in the Hayaniyah area examining the rubble of a house they said was destroyed in an airstrike Friday evening in the militia stronghold. Police said that five people were killed in the strike, a series of airstrikes have struck suspected militant positions since the fighting erupted on March 25th. U.S. and Iraqi authorities had insisted the Basra operation was not aimed at al-Sadr's powerful political movement but instead at ridding the streets of criminals and gunman who had effectively ruled the city since 2005.
I think that it will be hard to ever have peace in Iraq and I know that is a very pesismistic way to look at it. It just seems that since this war and hate is fueled from religious differences that have been there since Shites and the Sunnis came about.