Wissam Sagman has already tried unsuccessfully to leave the country, fearing his Christian family would not be safe in the new, chaotic Iraq.
Now, after a series of bombings at churches across the country on Sunday, his fear of his neighbors has grown and he plans to redouble his efforts to get out.
"These people, they love blood. They hate humanity. They hate us," Sagman said, looking around his wrecked living room, damaged from a car bomb attack on an Armenian church across the street. "They want all the Christians to leave."
The coordinated attacks hit four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens more in the first significant strike on Iraq's minority Christians since the US invasion last year.
Iraqi leaders condemned the violence on Monday, trying to quell Christian fears they were being routed from the country. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, called the attacks "hideous crimes."
Iraq's 750,000 Christians have grown fearful at the rise of Islamic fundamentalism since the ouster of former president Saddam Hussein last year.
Hundreds have fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria.
Others are waiting to join them.
"This is my church! My church!" Thomas George, 73, cried, shaking his walking stick outside a Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad that was among those targeted Sunday.
Muslim neighbors tried to console George and Tarek Kidr, another churchgoer.
One, Sadek Rabi, said they were all facing the same violence.
"A Muslim can't go to a mosque and a Christian can't go to church now," said 32-year-old Rabi, recalling attacks in recent months on Muslim sites of worship that have killed hundreds.
On Monday, an unknown group claimed responsibility for the church bombings and warned that more attacks would come. The statement, signed by an organization calling itself the Committee of Planning and Follow-up in Iraq, was posted on an Islamic Web site.
"You wanted a crusade, and this is the result," the statement said.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh vowed authorities would hunt down those responsible.
"The interim government of Iraq is united in condemning all acts of terrorism and is determined to use all available force, both Iraqi and those of multinational forces in Iraq, to pursue and destroy the people who plan and carry out such atrocities," Saleh told reporters.
Iraq's religious leaders unanimously denounced the bombings.
"We condemn and reproach these hideous crimes," said al-Sistani. He said the assaults "targeted Iraq's unity, stability and independence" and called on the government and Iraqis to work together to end the violence.
The Association of Muslim Scho-lars, an influential Sunni Muslim group believed to have links to insurgents, issued a statement offering condolences to the victims and blaming foreign fighters for trying to instigate sectarian fighting.
"Targeting churches is another type of effort aimed at damaging Iraqi unity," the group said. "Such acts cannot be done by Iraqis."
Staying united
The Roman Catholic Chaldean Patriarch, the Reverand Emmanuel Delly, said Iraqis of all religions will stay united.
"Perhaps they wanted to divide us from our Muslim brothers, but we and the Muslims are one family -- one Iraqi family that should be protected by brotherhood and love," he said
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