The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has issued a warning to Baghdad’s security forces of a possible terrorist attack by the Islamic State in response to the recent mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of at least 49 people attending mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, a classified document shows.
“It is possible that [ISIS] will carry out an attack targeting churches, especially the Saidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad…as revenge for the attack carried out against the mosques in New Zealand,” read a document distributed among the capital’s various security bodies, issued by the Directorate General for the Protection of Facilities and Personalities of the Iraqi ministry of interior, a copy of which Kurdistan 24 received.
The document was dated March 19, the same day the Islamic State published a 44-minute-long recording, urging supporters to launch attacks in all the countries that took part in fighting its organization, invoking the Christchurch attack to incite retaliatory violence.
