Dale Gavlak

A Christian wedding party meant to celebrate the joining of young lives turned into a nightmare when a lit flare set the packed hall in northern Iraq on fire, killing more than 120 people and injuring some 250 others, according to local sources, as authorities warned the death toll is expected to rise with many more people still missing.

Twenty years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq started and six years after Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State, whose attacks started in 2014, the country’s religious minorities are still trying to surmount challenges.