BAGHDAD - The worshipers heard the first shots and explosions about 20 minutes after the beginning of Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Salvation Church.
Heads turned, the sermon stopped abruptly and the Rev. Wassem Sabeeh quietly began ushering parishioners into a fortified room in the rear of the church.
"We realized these explosions were close," said Bassam Sami, 21, one of the survivors of the attack on a Baghdad church carried out by heavily armed suicide bombers that left at least 58 people dead. "Father Wassem started pushing people inside the room."
Once they penetrated the church building, the silent assailants began executing people. "They were well trained," Sami said. "They didn't say anything. It was like someone had cut out their tongues."
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Two Assyrian priests who were presiding over Sunday evening Mass were among those slain during the hours-long encounter. One priest was executed and the other was reportedly killed in an explosion, fellow priest Meyassr Portus said.
"People come here just to pray," Portus said Monday, weeping outside the church as residents swept broken glass off the street and repair crews fixed windows and mangled electrical wires. "They are trying to destroy humanity here. Christians just want to live in peace."
In all, 51 worshipers were killed, including at least eight women and five children, Iraqi authorities said. Nearly 60 people were wounded in the exchange of gunfire and the blasts inside the church.
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