Baghdeda, North Iraq (AINA) -- According to ankawa.com, police successfully defused a bomb that was placed in a vegetable market in Baghdeda, a Christian town near Mosul in north Iraq, whose population is 99% Assyrian. Authorities said the bomb contained nearly five pounds of C4 explosive.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb.

Tensions are high in the Assyrian community after the Baghdad Church Massacre, which occurred on October 31, where 58 Catholic Assyrians were killed in Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Church by members of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda affiliate (full coverage). Eleven Assyrians have been killed since October 31 in a series of attacks in Baghdad and Mosul.