Kidnapped Iraqi archbishop found dead

BAGHDAD — The body of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was abducted by gunmen last month was discovered Thursday in the northern city of Mosul.

The corpse of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found by police in the city's Intisar neighborhood.

Gunmen grabbed him and fatally shot three bodyguards Feb. 29 after the archbishop finished celebrating the Stations of the Cross.

There were conflicting accounts Thursday night of whether he died from ill health or from gunshot wounds he received when his captors seized him.

Church sources told AsiaNews, a Catholic news service that specializes in the Middle East, that the 65-year-old Rahho, who suffered a heart attack a couple years ago and was in poor health, probably had died because he did not have access to his medication.

They told the agency that an inspection of his body showed no signs of violence and an autopsy revealed he had been dead for five days.

However, Nineveh's police chief, Gen. Wathaq Hamdani, said that police discovered Rahho's body in the street and that the archbishop had been shot. "He was wounded when they killed his security, and as a result he died," Hamdani said.

Nineveh's deputy governor, Khasro Goran, said it was likely that Rahho had been dead for days but that his killers pretended he was still alive in hopes of getting ransom money. "It's not the first time Christian bishops have been targeted by these organizations," Goran said.

Both Hamdani and Goran blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the archbishop's death.

The kidnappers had demanded millions of dollars, weapons and the release of Arab inmates in Kurdish prisons, the news service reported.

Rahho, in an interview with the news agency last fall, said he felt Christians in Mosul encountered great risks because of their faith.

"Everyone is suffering from this war irrespective of religious affiliation, but in Mosul, Christians face starker choices," Rahho said.

Last June, a priest and three deacons were shot dead outside their church in Mosul; two other priests were kidnapped and released in October in the northern city. Several Mosul churches and affiliated buildings were targeted in January bombings.

The number of Chaldeans in Iraq has dropped by at least a million since the end of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, though the Chaldeans are still the largest Christian group in the country. Priests have estimated that fewer than 500,000 remain in Iraq.

The Chaldean Church is an Eastern Rite church affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church but retains its own customs and rites. Most Chaldeans live in the Middle East. Other Christian sects in Iraq include Assyrian Christians, Armenian Christians and Sabeans, an ancient sect.

Information from The New York Times is included in this report.