52 killed in Baghdad church attack

From www.rte.ie/news

At least 52 hostages and police officers have been killed after security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held by al Qaeda-linked gunmen.
Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal said that 67 people were also wounded.
An al-Qaeda linked group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Five attackers were killed and eight arrested.
There had been more than 100 worshippers at the Sayidat al-Nejat Catholic cathedral in central Baghdad when the group entered the building.
The gunmen had attacked during evening mass after killing two guards at the nearby headquarters of the Baghdad stock exchange.
At least one of the deaths came before the rescue operation: one of the freed hostages, an 18-year-old man, said the first thing the gunmen did when they entered the church was to shoot the priest.
Officials said that at least one of the gunmen who raided the cathedral in the Karrada neighbourhood had blown himself up with a suicide belt as police made a first attempt to enter.
Around 800,000 Christians lived in Iraq in 2003 but their number has since shrunk to 550,000 as members of the community have fled abroad, according to Christian leaders.