BAGHDAD: A senior Iraqi priest in his Christmas sermon today urged Christians not to be intimidated by a string of deadly attacks against the minority community but warned they should not linger near churches.

Bishop Shlemon Warduni’s message to worshippers came as security forces ramped up their presence in cities with significant Christian populations in a bid to prevent violence. “Do not be afraid,” said Warduni, the second-most-senior Chaldean bishop in Iraq.

“If we are alive, God is with us, and if they take away our lives, we will have eternal life. We must be brave, take fear from our hearts, and work and go on as before.” He added, however, “I ask you not to gather in front of the church, but to go home.” Warduni’s Church of Our Lady of Sacred Heart in the capital’s Al-Mohandiseen district, east Baghdad, was itself hit by a suicide car bomb on July 12 that killed four and wounded 21.

In the past six weeks, four Christians and three Muslims have been killed in a series of attacks against churches in the northern city of Mosul, where Iraq’s Christian minority have long been concentrated.

Though violence has dropped across the country, attacks remain frequent in Mosul, 350 km north of the capital. “If Baghdad seems safer than Mosul, it is just as dangerous to come here, but we cannot abandon our church during Christmas,” said Aamer Gurial, a 45-year-old microbiologist, at the Sacred Heart church.

Retired agricultural engineer Meero Barakat added that he had not wanted to attend the sermon out of fear, but his daughter had insisted. “It is a sad Christmas because they attacked the house of God,” he said, standing in the still-damaged church. “We are living in fear.” Policemen stood guard at the entrance to the church and women’s bags were inspected as they walked in.

Baghdad’s Christian population has halved since the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003 and Barakat said, if he had the means, he too would have left the country.