It is greatly feared that the entire lay leadership of the Anglican Church in Iraq has been killed after attending a conference together. Five Iraqi-born Anglicans are feared to have been killed after failing to return from a conference in Jordan two weeks ago.
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Canon Andrew White, of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East, who is the clergyman in charge of the church, is quoted as saying in the report that “Anglican leaders in Baghdad have been missing for two weeks and they are presumed dead.”

Canon White said he had been told on 13 September that the Anglican team was attacked while returning from Jordon on the notoriously dangerous road linking the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.

“It is the most dangerous area in Iraq," he said. "One of two things must have happened. They either got kidnapped or they died. But we have had no ransom demand or anything.”

The missing are lay pastor Maher Dakel; his wife Mona, who runs the women's section of the church; their son Yeheya; the church's music director Firas Raad; the deputy lay pastor and their driver.

Canon White said other members of the church thought the missing group may have been taken into hospital by American soldiers, but there has been no response from US forces in Iraq or the Pentagon of their whereabouts. |QUOTE|

These deaths would bring to 12 the number of Iraqis that Canon White has lost in his reconciliation work in Iraq. But these missions would be the first from the Anglican Church and he believes that they were not specifically targeted for their faith.

“The fact is that attacks on people on that road happen all the time, particularly on people who appear to be richer or middle class,” he said.

Until recently, Canon White had been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Middle East and helped reopen St George’s in Baghdad after the Iraqi war two years ago, according to The Times newspaper.

|TOP|“We are all devastated. This is the very core of our Anglican Church in Iraq. With such a large congregation of about 800 strong, losing key leadership will be devastating.”

The church is known to have one of the largest congregations in the Iraqi capital, though none of the congregation is traditionally Anglican.

The Times newspaper quotes the Right Rev Colin Bennetts, Bishop of Coventry, as expressing his sadness at this news: “When we first visited Iraq in 1999 it was my privilege to preach at the re-opening of St George’s Church in the centre of Baghdad. We all saw this as a sign of hope and a new beginning under the desperate and despotic regime of Saddam.

“Since that time the church has grown from a handful of worshippers to a congregation of hundreds. For them to lose their leadership in this way is a sad and terrible blow. I urge Christians everywhere to continue to pray for the Church in Iraq in these even more troublesome times.”