The council asked the UN to provide information on the number of religious minorities driven out of Iraq because of sectarian violence.

The UN Security Council was "appalled by and condemned in the strongest terms the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq, including today's," said British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant reading a council press statement.

The council condemned all attacks in Iraq, "particularly those motivated by religious hatred."

French ambassador Gerard Araud said recent attacks against a Christian cathedral and other targets in Baghdad was part of "a deliberate will to destroy the Christian community."

He said Al-Qaeda's bomb and gun assaults were "an attack on the diversity of Iraqi society."

Iraq's Christians are "on the frontline of the fight for democracy," he told reporters.

Lyall Grant said the militant campaign "potentially poses a threat to diversity in the Middle East, which was one of the fundamental bedrocks of stability in the Middle East."

He said the Security Council had asked a UN envoy to supply information on the number of religious minorities who have been driven out of Iraq because of the strife in the country.

International concerns have been raised by the attack on Baghdad's Catholic Cathedral in which 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security personnel died. Al Qaeda claimed the assault and has called for attacks on Christians in the country.

The Security Council gave backing to the Iraqi government's efforts to end the violence.

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