Iraqi Cabinet makes Christmas Day national holiday

BAGHDAD, Iraq (KTRK) -- Nearly 300,000 Christians living in Iraq are observing Christmas one day after the Iraqi Cabinet approved a law observing Dec. 25 as a national holiday.

Worshippers attended Christmas services at Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad Tuesday morning.

On Monday, the Cabinet approved a national holiday observing the occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ, according to an Iraqi government statement.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands have fled the country where there was once as many as 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq.