Pogrom Against Mosul's Christians

The Iraqi government was yesterday rushing 1,000 police to Mosul, a mostly Sunni Muslim city on the Tigris river 225 miles north of Baghdad , in an attempt to stop the killings which have already led to some 4,000 Christians taking flight in the last week said officials.

“The violence is the fiercest campaign against the Christians since 2003, “said the provincial governor of Mosul Duraid Kashmula. “Among those killed over the last 11 days were a doctor, an engineer and a handicapped person.” At least three houses belonging to Christians were blown up in the Sukkar district of Mosul, regarded as bastion of al Qa’ida in Iraq, on Saturday night.

Some 11 Christians have been killed since 28 September leading to the present exodus. Most of the refugees are moving to Christian villages, schools and monasteries in Nineveh province of which Mosul is the capital. “We left everything behind us. We took only out souls,” said Ni’ma Noail, a middle aged Christian civil servant, who has taken refuge with his three children in a room in a church in Bartila, a Christian village east of Mosul. He added, “Relatives in other cities and friends in Mosul, including Muslims, advised me to leave after recent events.”

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