Aramean Christian Indigenous nation of Mosul in the Media:

The persecutions, killings, displacements and ethnic cleansing of the Aramean Indigenous Nation of Iraq in Mosul erea

Iraqi Government Accused of Complicity in Murders

2/26/2010

Zenit News Agency (www.zenit.org)

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35594

His Beatitude Ignace Joseph III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church, sent the letter on Wednesday to Nouri al-Maliki, decrying the murder of Christians in Mosul.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Zenit.org).- In a letter sent to the Iraqi prime minister, the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church accused the authorities of complicity with the perpetrators of the massacre of Mosul Christians.

His Beatitude Ignace Joseph III Younan, 65, sent the letter on Wednesday to Nouri al-Maliki, decrying the murder of Christians in Mosul, northern Iraq.

Eight Christians have been killed in 10 days, while others are leaving the area where their families have lived for 2,000 years in order to flee for safety.

The patriarch affirmed: "While we write you, our hearts bleed over the tragic news we receive every day from Mosul, where Christians constantly suffer the attacks of 'unknown' criminals.

"They are murdered, massacred, threatened on the streets, in schools and even in their homes for the fact of belonging to a religion that is different from that of the majority of inhabitants of the city."

The last murder occurred Tuesday, when an armed commando entered the home of a Christian family, killing the father and two sons in front of his wife and daughter, whose lives were spared by the criminals. Some 15,000 Christians remain in the Muslim-majority city of Mosul.

Patriarch Younan continued, "But what is worse is that there is no one who asks questions about the issue of justice, or about the issue of law, and there is no one who punishes the aggressors. Believe us: when it's too much, it's too much!"

Sheep to the slaughter

He wrote: "There is no human conscience than can accept this lack of security in Mosul, where it has become licit to kill the innocent and defenseless.

"We are astonished at the reasons given by government employees and from their failure we can deduce that there is complicity in the process of emptying the city of Christians, who have lived there for centuries.

"We raise our voices and ask: If the security forces in Iraq have not been able to protect the innocent and vulnerable, why in the name of God aren't weapons given to the innocent so that they can defend themselves instead of letting them be taken to the slaughter like sheep?"

The patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians asserted that "what is happening in Mosul cannot be justified by anyone, not for any reason, not because of the election, or because of work, or because of the conflicts between parties."

"It's known that Iraqi Christians have never sought power," he added, "they haven't attacked anyone and have not revenged themselves on the guilty."

"Has the moment not arrived for their government, according to the state of law, to take energetic measures and punish the criminals and their accomplices of Mosul?" Patriarch Younan asked.

He continued: "We realize and say to you with all clarity that the sorrow that oppresses the heart of Christians in Iraq will turn into anger outside of Iraq, where protests will take place in front of all the Iraqi embassies to condemn the lack of security of innocent Christians in Mosul."

The patriarch concluded, "Trusting in your wisdom and impartiality, we thank you."

The Syriac Catholic Church has its see in Beirut, Lebanon, though the majority of its members live in Iraq (42,000).

The Syriac Catholic Church separated from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, but returned to full communion more than a millennium later.

Mass Media Ignore Iraq Christian Emergency

By Edward Pentin Friday, February 26, 2010

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mass_media_ignore_iraq_christian_emergency/

The news has escaped much of the mass media but Christian families are leaving the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in their droves to escape a concerted campaign of violence and intimidation.

Chaldean Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona has said that Mosul is experiencing a “humanitarian emergency” and that “hundreds of Christian families” left the city Feb. 24 in search of shelter, leaving behind their homes, property, commercial activities, according to Asia News. The situation “is dramatic”, he said, and warned that Mosul could be “emptied completely of Christians”.

The families have chosen to flee after a spate of violent attacks which left five Christians dead last week, and members of a whole family murdered on Tuesday. “In one house all the family members were killed—five people,” said an Iraqi member of Open Doors, a non-denominational charity helping persecuted Christians.

“First the attackers drove by and shot from their car. Then they forced themselves into the house and gunned down the entire family. They even threw two bodies outside the house as a cruel warning for others.”

Iraqi Christians do not know specific reasons why the violence against believers is so extreme in the last 10 days, except for political and religious motives. National elections are scheduled March 7 and the attackers hope to derive benefit from causing political instability.

Speaking to the Register Feb. 22nd, Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk said the elections are prompting a struggle between political groups made up of Arabs and Kurds. “They are fighting to have authority, power and also the economy and there’s a big tension,” he said, adding that in Mosul they are “pushing the Christians to get out of the city – that is their main purpose.”

He warned that lack of security is due to a political vacuum in Mosul, with Arabs running the city and not sharing power with the Kurds. He said he remains hopeful that peace could return after the elections. Archbishop Sako has launched “a demonstration and a fast” to sensitize the international community to the “massacre of Iraqi Christians” and stop the violence in the country. 

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his deep concern and sorrow over the continuing wave of violence. Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, reported Feb. 24 that although the Pope is on retreat and not speaking publicly, he expressed his sorrow that “in the area of Mosul, the killing of Christians continues.”

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, told Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, that the Pope expresses his “sincere solidarity” with him and other leaders after a series of attacks on government buildings and on places of worship, both Muslim and Christian. “He prays with fervor for an end to the violence and asks the government to do everything possible to increase security around all places of worship throughout the country,” Cardinal Bertone wrote.

In a speech given Tuesday to the Sant’Egidio lay community in Rome, Archbishop Sako warned that in the coming years more Iraqi Christians are likely to flee the country due to violence by Islamic extremists and fears over the introduction of Sharia law. “They think of the Jews who were once in Iraq but are not there anymore and they are thinking it’s their turn to leave,” he said. “This is what people are thinking about.”

He also said Iraqi Christians feel neglected by the West. “[They] have the impression of being forgotten by the West that is secular,” he said. “In the past, some might have wanted to protect Christians but now we have the impression of being isolated and forgotten by all.”

The Vatican nuncio to Iraq, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, warned in an interview with Vatican Radio Feb. 25 that Christians have been in Iraq for 2,000 years, so “any attempt to decrease the Christian presence or, worse, to destroy the Christian presence in Iraq would mean destroying the history of the Iraqi nation.”

Christians attacked ahead of Iraq election

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/26/Christians-attacked-ahead-of-Iraq-election/UPI-23791267206370/

Published: Feb. 26, 2010

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Attacks on the Christian community in northern Iraq are an effort to destabilize the region ahead of parliamentary elections, officials said.

The Christian community in northern Iraq was the target of a spate of attacks in 2008. Violence against Christians forced nearly half of that population to flee the area, the U.N. said.

Three Christian family members were killed Tuesday in Mosul when militants stormed their house. Christians leaders complained they were made to feel unwelcome in an area they consider their historic homeland.

Osama al-Nujaifi, the provincial governor of Ninawa, told the Iraqi analytical Web site Niqash that he called on army commanders to "shoulder their responsibilities for protecting the Christian community and disclosing the results of the criminal investigations regarding the crimes committed against them."

Area residents told Niqash the Christian community is often the target of attacks before Iraqis head to the polls, noting the latest outbreak of violence is an act of intimidation.

Iraqis pick their next government March 7 amid a contentious political environment. An election committee in January banned several influential Sunni leaders from taking part in the polls because of alleged ties to the outlawed Baath Party of Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad on Friday, however, announced it was rehiring thousands of army officers who served under Saddam.

Bishops in Iraq urge government to halt slaughter of Christians

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/iraqi_bishops_urge_government_to_halt_slaughter_of_christians/#comments

Rome, Italy, Feb 26, 2010 / 01:03 pm (CNA).- Various Iraqi bishops have issued a joint message denouncing the continual wave of Islamic violence against Christians in the country, which has left five people dead in the past week. The bishops are demanding that the government take concrete steps to stop the slaughter.

In an interview with the Fides News Agency, Syrian Catholic Archbishop Georges Casmouusa of Mosul called for authorities to “fully assume responsibility for protecting the Christian presence in Mosul.  International intervention is necessary to force the central and local governments to act immediately.”

The fifth and most recent victim, a 57-year-old Christian orthodox man, was found dead two days ago.

This surge in violence moved the bishops to call for greater intervention by the local government.  Archbishop Casmouusa provided Fides with a copy of the message which he signed together with Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Gregorios Saliba, and Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Emile Nona.  The message denounced the violence against “our Christian sons and daughters in the city of Mosul,” with the killing of innocent and peaceful people, thus revealing “a premeditated plan to pressure the Christian Churches to carry out a particular agenda.” 

All efforts by Christian and Muslim leaders have not been able to stop the violence against Christ’s faithful, they said, adding, “These continuous acts lead us to believe that we are not wanted in this city, which is our homeland.” 

“Christians have participated directly and with great effectiveness in building civilization in Mosul” and throughout the region, the bishops said, particularly through art, culture, thought and creativity, as well as the economy and society. Christians are recognized by all as “peaceful members and builders of society."

“Is this how we are rewarded? By being expelled from our city, marginalized from public life, thrown out of our land? Will the state remain indifferent?” they asked.

The bishops called on the government of Mosul and the federal government in Baghdad to “fully assume their responsibility to work for the security of citizens, especially for the faithful of the Christian minority, who are the most vulnerable and most peaceful of all.”

“We demand government officials give priority to respect for the law and the state, and safeguard the security and the trust of the citizens,” they said.  “We ask leaders not to waste their efforts fighting for power and hegemony amongst themselves,” but rather to “pursue criminal actions so that those who order and carry out violence may be brought to justice.”

Iraqi lawmakers highlight "political" killings of Christians (Roundup)

Feb 25, 2010, 12:08 GMT

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1536589.php/Iraqi-lawmakers-highlight-political-killings-of-Christians-Roundup#ixzz0gZSVCGAi

Mosul, Iraq - Lawmakers from the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh on Thursday said a recent spate of violence against Christians in the area was intended to stir up religious and ethnic tension.

Representatives of Nineveh's Christian population say Christians in the province have been subject to a wave of lethal violence and threats in lead up to the next month's elections.

At least eight Christians have been murdered in Mosul, the provincial capital, since February 14 alone. At least 12 have been killed since January.

'The purpose of targeting Christians in Nineveh province is to perpetuate instability between the province's different religions, creeds, and ethnicities,' Hisham al-Tai, a lawmaker with the Iraqi Accord Front, told reporters.

The election is scheduled for March 7.

The head of Mosul University, Said al-Diwaji, said some 1,500 of his students would not be able to get to school because of fears for their safety.

He said that the head of Mosul security had asked that buses not take some 1,500 Christian students from Qaraqosh, roughly 30 kilometres east of Mosul, to the university because of threats to blow up the buses.

Mosul and its environs are among the most ethnically and religiously diverse - and dangerous - regions of Iraq. Iraqi and US officials describe the city as al-Qaeda's last urban stronghold in the country.

Tensions have been high in the province since an Arab nationalist party won last year's provincial polls on a platform of taking back control of the government and security services from Kurdish parties and allied militias.

Yehia Abdu, a member of Nineveh's provincial council, accused Iraq's central government, the provincial government, and the security services 'of failing to disclose those behind the targeting of Christians.'

'The targeting of Christians serves a political agenda, by pitting one group against a minority. The real losers are the Iraqi people,' he said.

A Christian man and his two sons were fatally shot in Mosul on Tuesday. Their murder followed five similar shootings, in at least one case by men who told the victims they were secret police agents.

Many Christians fled the area after a similar wave of attacks targeted their community in late 2008, ahead of provincial council elections.

Christian lawmaker Yonadam Kanna accused the central government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of not doing enough to protect the region's Christians from 'crimes of a political nature.'

He further accused the government of burying the findings of its investigations of the recent killings and those that took place in 2008, 'perhaps out of fear for its political alliances ahead of the elections.'

He blamed a 'lack of coordination' between the KRG and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government in Baghdad for creating 'a security vacuum' that allowed the attacks to continue.

The New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch this week said the attacks were 'most probably politically motivated.'

'Iraq's authorities need to act now to stop this campaign of violence against Christians from spreading again,' Human Rights Watch's deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork, said.

'In particular, the government needs to see that those responsible for these murders are swiftly arrested and prosecuted to protect Mosul's Christians from further violence,' he added.

Mosul’s Christians Are Being Hunted, Murdered, And Forced To Flee (With Updates)

February 25, 2010

By Mohammed Ibn Laith

http://gorillasguides.com/2010/02/25/mosuls-christians-are-being-hunted-murdered-and-forced-to-flee/

If you had read the independent Iraki newsagency Aswat al Iraq’s English language coverage of Ninewa governorate in general and the disaster that is befalling Mosul’s Christians in particular you would know that that yesterday evening "more than thirty" Christian families had fled Mosul within a space of two days. "More than thirty" —  you could be forgiven for having the the impression that only a few more than thirty families have fled, thirty one, thirty two, thirty three perhaps … … …  "more than thirty".

IRAQ Bishop of Mosul: humanitarian emergency. Hundreds of Christian families fleeing violence – Asia News:

The archbishop of Mosul is concerned about the many families, "hundreds" in one day yesterday, leaving the city. Bishop Nona speaks of an " unending via Crucis” and denounces the "change in methods" operated by the armed gangs. "In the past we said to the Christians to remain closed in the house – he remembers – but now they are even attacked in their own homes”. The reference is to the murder took place last February 23: commandos entered the house of Aishwa Marosi, a Christian of 59, killing the man and two boys. His wife and daughter witnessed the murder but were spared by the criminals.

Bishop Nona confirms the risk that "Mosul will be emptied completely of Christians”, who are fleeing towards the plain of Nineveh and other places considered safer. "Yesterday I visited some families – he continues – I have tried to bring comfort, but the situation is dramatic. The people fled without taking anything with them”. This is why the local archdiocese has launched an initial emergency response, trying to provide "essential supplies and relief", but the danger of "a humanitarian crisis is real."

The archbishop of Mosul plans to travel to Baghdad to meet with politicians and the central government, to demand their intervention. It is difficult to maintain the Christian presence, he continues, and it is likely that the general elections – scheduled for March 7 – no one will vote. The confining of Iraq’s Christians in the Nineveh Plain, victims of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds, seems an increasingly concrete likelihood, although the Church leaders have always been opposed to this "ghettoisation". So far, the warring factions have used the excuse of religion and armed gangs to drag the Christians into the conflict. "For this – concluded Mgr. Nona – we now need to find a ‘political response’ to the conflicts, the struggle for power.”

Among those hundreds of Christian families who fled their homes yesterday were the families of two Gorilla’s Guides team members. More Christians have fled Mosul this morning. Among those who fled this morning were a further two families of Gorilla’s Guides Christian team members in Mosul.

When I wrote "Nearly One Million Christians – Most Of Them Now On The Run" nearly two years ago, we had twenty five Christian team members and associates together with their families living in Mosul and it’s suburbs. Today February 25th 2010 we have one Christian team member left living in the city. He lives alone having sent his family to stay in the home of another team member far from Mosul for their safety.

The savage murder of the 59 year old Assyrian (Aramean) Christian Aishwa Maroki by a gang of gunmen who smashed down his front door to get at him and then slaughtered him and and his two sons Bassim and Mokhlas in front of his terrified wife and daughter has terrorised many of Mosul’s Christians beyond endurance. As my colleague has reported in the immediately preceding posting (see نزوح اسر مسيحية من مدينة الموصل جراء العنف | Gorilla’s Guides ) The leader of Tal Keef district council, Bashar Kiki, has said that he personally has offered assistance to thirty Christian refugee families and that he expects more Christian refugees to arrive in the next few days.

Mosul’s Christians are the victims of the complete breakdowns in law and order that have taken place repeatedly in Mosul since the American invasion of Irak. They are the victims of several concentrated campaigns of terror against them. There is the campaign by Takfiri extremists and there are the competing campaigns of Arab and Kurdish nationalists. Wherever my Christian brothers and sisters in humanity look in the city that is their home Mosul’s Christians see only threats and predators. The security forces, the Peshmerga now flooding the city, and the American forces who patrol with the Peshmerga do nothing to protect the Christians. Nor do they do anything to protect the other minorities such as the Shabaki and the Yazhidi.

We have many eyewitness reports from witnesses whom we know to be credible of Peshmerga and their American allies standing by and doing nothing while Christians are attacked in front of their eyes. We have reports from people whose testimony we know to be credible of Christians being "fingered" by the new "security" forces flooding Mosul and then being attacked. We are not the only people with thick dossiers of such reports. Every human rights organisation with a presence in the governorate has such a dossier.

The parallels with the death squad murder campaigns of recent years in which the death squads consisting of  "men dressed in police uniform" and "men dressed in army uniform" turned out to be police and soldiers are too clear and too appalling to be missed. As with those campaigns the aim is explicitly political — to remove a political obstacle by forcing an entire community to flee in terror from their homes

When Mosul’s Christians say that they are surrounded by threats and predators in the city that is their home and that among worst predators are those whose duty it is to protect them they are telling the truth.

Like Bashar Kikim, and Bishops Sako and Nona  we in Gorilla’s Guides know that we can expect more Christians to flee in terror as the terror campaigns against them escalate. We expect increased violence against them and the other minority groups, such as Turkmen, Fayli, Shabaki, and Yazhidi in the run up to the election. We expect the violence levels to escalate against them still further as the issues of Kirkuk and the so-called "disputed areas" come once more to forefront of the political arena. This is the second time in recent years that I have burnt with rage and shame that we cannot do more to protect our Christian brothers and sisters. I believe that it is now very doubtful that there will be any surviving Christians in Irak in a few years time.

Mohammed Ibn Laith

Christians flee Mosul because of violence

February 25, 2010 - 07:47:21

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127613

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: More than 30 Christian families have left Mosul heading to Talkeef district as a result of the surge in acts of violence against them in the city.

“Christian families have been leaving Mosul City for Talkeef district (15 km north of Mosul) for two days,” the head of Talkeef’s council, Bashar Kiki, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

This came after gunmen had killed three members of a Christian family in the city, Kiki indicated.

According to our information, 15 persons were killed in Mosul in a matter of two weeks, he added.

Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

» 02/25/2010 10:44
IRAQ

Bishop of Mosul: humanitarian emergency. Hundreds of Christian families fleeing violence

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishop-of-Mosul:-humanitarian-emergency.-Hundreds-of-Christian-families-fleeing-violence-17726.html

Mgr Nona speaks of an “unending Via Crucis”. The archdiocese helps the refugees with basic necessities, but "the situation is dramatic." The prelate will go to Baghdad to seek the intervention of the central government. Mgr Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, will launch a "demonstration and a fast" to remember "the massacre of Iraqi Christians."

Christians flee Iraq’s Mosul

 http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2010-02-24%5Ckurd.htm

By Jareer Ahmad

Azzaman, February 24, 2010

Christian families are fleeing Mosul in droves in the aftermath of the murder of a Christian family in the city.

Our correspondent in the city says the flight is a reminder of the 2008 exodus in which thousands of families fled the city.

The fleeing families are heading for the string of Christian villages, towns, churches and monasteries to the east and north of the city.

Anti-Christian attacks have intensified recently in the city, the second largest in Iraq.

Five more Christians were killed in the past two weeks. Many Christians were openly told to leave or face the consequences.

Violence has relatively receded in Iraq in the past two years, but Mosul remains one of the most volatile and violent in the country.

Tensions are building up between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul and its outskirts which Kurdish militias have occupied.

Kurdish militiamen are even heavily present inside the city itself.

But neither the Kurdish militias nor Iraqi troops are doing enough to put an end to Christian suffering in the city.

Observers say the Christians in the city are most probably paying for the struggle over territory between the Arab majority and Kurdish minority in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital.

Iraqi Christians are of divided loyalty despite their shaky situation.

Some of their factions openly support the Kurds. Others have aligned with Arabs.

The observers say the struggle over Christian votes might be one of the reasons behind the latest anti-Christian campaign.

The Iraqi al-Qaeda branch could be involved. The group had vowed to derail the elections, only a few days away.

http://www.ninanews.com/English/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=ELGIGK

23/02/2010 22:53:00

Mosul (NINA) – In one day, three Christians kill in Mosul.

Source at Niniveh Police Operations told NINA on Tuesday, Feb. 23, "Unknown gunmen burst into a home of Christian family in Thawra neighbourhood, in western Mosul, killing a man and his two sons and fled."

This killing brings the number of Christians killed by unknown gunmen in Ninive province during the second half of the current month of March up to ten; most of them are young men. / End

Gunmen kill 3 Christians in Mosul

February 23, 2010 - 06:42:09

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127546

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Unidentified gunmen killed three Christians from the same family in western Mosul on Tuesday, according to a security source.

“Unknown armed men stormed the house of a Christian family in al-Seha neighborhood in western Mosul, killing the father and two of his sons, one of them is a priest,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The father is a very old man and the priest had been kidnapped two years ago,” he explained.

He gave no more details.

Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, is 405 km north of Baghdad.

Gunmen kill three Christians in Iraq's north

23 Feb 2010 18:13:11 GMT

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61M2G6.htm

* Eight Christians killed in less than fortnight

* Attacks on minorities ahead of election

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Armed men stormed the house of a Christian family in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing a father and his two sons, police said, in another attack on the minority community ahead of an election.

While violence has declined across Iraq over the last two years, bombings and shootings occur almost daily in the northern city of Mosul, where a struggle for power between Arabs and Kurds, and the presence of al Qaeda, exacerbate insecurity.

Police said unknown gunmen shot dead the family members in eastern Mosul. Five other Christians have been killed in Mosul in the past two weeks.

Human Rights Watch, which has repeatedly warned that Kurd-Arab disputes put Iraq's minorities in a precarious position, said the recent attacks could be politically motivated ahead of March 7 parliamentary polls.

"Iraq's authorities need to act now to stop this campaign of violence against Christians from spreading again," Joe Stork, the group's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.

In late 2008, thousands of Christians fled their homes around Mosul after a campaign of assassinations.

With the March 7 parliamentary vote drawing closer, attacks against Christians -- whose vote may influence the Kurd-Arab tussle -- could be a sign of voter intimidation, or an attempt by al Qaeda militants to derail the election.

There is a quota in parliament for Christian seats, but there are Christian candidates who are closer to the Kurds, others who are independent and some closer to the Arabs. (Reporting by Jamal Al-Badrani; writing by Jack Kimball; editing by Andrew Roche)

Five dead, including three Christians, in Iraq attacks

Tue Feb 23,

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) – Five people were killed, including three Christian men and a policeman, in the restive northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, less than two weeks ahead of a nationwide general election.

In the deadliest attack, a Christian man and his two sons were gunned down in their home, bringing to eight the total number of Christians murdered in the city, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, in the past 10 days.

"Unknown gunmen entered the house of Aishwa Maroki, who was 59 years old, and killed him and his two sons -- Mokhlas, 31, and Bassim, 25," said police Major Khalaf al-Juburi. All the victims were Syrian Catholic.

Juburi said Maroki's wife and daughter were in the west Mosul house when the shooting happened but were not killed. He added that the gunmen stole the family's gold before escaping.

According to a neighbour the gunmen arrived at the house on three motorcycles.

Local leaders had expressed concern that Christians could be targeted ahead of the March 7 parliamentary election in a country wracked by sectarian violence since the US-led invasion of 2003.

In November, New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that minorities in the oil-rich north including Christians were the collateral victims of a conflict between Arabs and Kurds over who controls Iraq's disputed northern provinces.

Later on Tuesday, policeman Ahmed al-Luhaibi was killed when a magnetic bomb attached to his car exploded at around 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) in south Mosul, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

In the town of Tal Abta, 35 kilometres (20 miles) west of the city, police also found a bullet-riddled body at around 4:30 pm. A police official said the body, of a man aged between 30 and 35, could not immediately be identified.

While sectarian violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq since its peak from 2005 to 2007, attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad and Mosul

Iraq: Protect Christians from Violence

Five Killed in Mosul in One Week

February 23, 2010

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/23/iraq-protect-christians-violence

Update: Three more Christians were killed on February 23 after armed men shot a father and his two sons at their home in Mosul.

(Washington, DC, February 23, 2010) - Iraq's government should bolster security to protect the lives of Christians in Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today. Since February 14, 2010, five Christians have been killed in Mosul in separate attacks that appear to be politically motivated, given the country's looming national election.

Human Rights Watch called on the government to take immediate measures, such as an increased security presence in Chaldo-Assyrian (Aramean)  neighborhoods before and during the elections, to help prevent a repeat of a campaign of violence that devastated the community in Mosul in late 2008.

"Iraq's authorities need to act now to stop this campaign of violence against Christians from spreading again," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "In particular, the government needs to see that those responsible for these murders are swiftly arrested and prosecuted to protect Mosul's Christians from further violence."

According to information obtained by Human Rights Watch, on February 16, assailants impersonating secret police approached Zaya Toma and his cousin, Ramsin Shmael, while they waited at a bus stop in Mosul's al-Tahrir district on their way to the university they attend. Speaking in Arabic, the assailants asked Toma, a 22-year-old engineering student, and Shmael, a 21-year-old pharmacy student, for their identity cards. Although identity cards in Iraq do not indicate religion or ethnicity, assailants have often used the victim's name as a marker of his or her religious or ethnic affiliation.

After Toma produced his card, one of the assailants shot him point-blank in the head, killing him instantly. Ramsin tried to run but was shot twice; one bullet shattered his teeth. The assailants fled, apparently assuming they had killed both students, although Shmael survived. Family members arrived on the scene before the police, to find Toma lying in a pool of blood, his books on one side of his body, his identity card on the other.

The incident has devastated the broader family of Toma and Shmael, who escaped to northern Iraq from Baghdad in the summer of 2007 after receiving threats to kill them unless they converted to Islam. Family members say they want to move again - this time out of Iraq - to join the hundreds of thousands of Chaldo-Assyrian (Aramean) who have fled since 2003.

"By killing Zaya, they have taken everything from us," a family member told Human Rights Watch. "Our only crime is that we are Christian,"

The attack was one of several killings of Christians in Mosul the same week:

• On February 20, the body of Adnan Hanna al-Dahan was found in northern Mosul. The 57-year-old Syrian Orthodox grocer had been kidnapped by unknown assailants from inside his shop a few days earlier.

• On February 17, the bullet-ridden body of Wissam George, a 20-year-old Assyrian (Aramean) studying to be a teacher, was found after he disappeared that morning on his way to school.

• On February 15, gunmen stormed a grocery store and killed Fatukhi Munir, its owner.

• On February 14, Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean man, was shot dead outside his home.

While the identities of the perpetrators remain unknown, the spike in attacks against Christians comes only days ahead of Iraq's March 7 parliamentary vote. Families of the victims and community leaders believe the violence is politically motivated and are appealing to the government for protection.

The Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Emil Shimoun Nona, said the most recent killings could prompt a new wave of refugees fleeing northern Iraq, where Christians live in constant apprehension.  Since 2003, between 250,000 and 500,000 Christians - or about half the Christian population - have left the country, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees. In January, Archbishop Nona was installed as successor to Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, whose body was found in March 2008, ten days after kidnappers seized him as he was leaving the Holy Spirit Church in Mosul.

Human Rights Watch said that the recent attacks recall the campaign of targeted killings against Chaldo-Assyrian (Aramean)  in Mosul in late 2008 that the organization documented in a 51-page report, "On Vulnerable Ground: Violence against Minority Communities in Nineveh Province's Disputed Territories," released in November 2009. The orchestrated violence left 40 Chaldo-Assyrian (Aramean)  dead and led to a mass exodus of more than 12,000 from their homes in Mosul. Assailants targeted Christians in their homes, in workplaces, and in places of worship.

Those killings began shortly after the Christian community lobbied the Iraqi parliament to pass a law that would set aside a greater number of seats for minorities in the January 2009 provincial elections. The attacks escalated after Christians held demonstrations in Nineveh and Baghdad in response to parliament's decision (later amended) to drop a provision in the provincial elections law ensuring political representation for minorities.

The report also documented intimidation and restrictions on freedom of movement by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq of other minority groups in Nineveh, including Yazidis and Shabaks, during the 2009 provincial elections.

Gunmen kill three Christians in Iraq's north

23 Feb 2010 18:13:11 GMT

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61M2G6.htm

* Eight Christians killed in less than fortnight

* Attacks on minorities ahead of election

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Armed men stormed the house of a Christian family in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing a father and his two sons, police said, in another attack on the minority community ahead of an election.

While violence has declined across Iraq over the last two years, bombings and shootings occur almost daily in the northern city of Mosul, where a struggle for power between Arabs and Kurds, and the presence of al Qaeda, exacerbate insecurity.

Police said unknown gunmen shot dead the family members in eastern Mosul. Five other Christians have been killed in Mosul in the past two weeks.

Human Rights Watch, which has repeatedly warned that Kurd-Arab disputes put Iraq's minorities in a precarious position, said the recent attacks could be politically motivated ahead of March 7 parliamentary polls.

"Iraq's authorities need to act now to stop this campaign of violence against Christians from spreading again," Joe Stork, the group's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.

In late 2008, thousands of Christians fled their homes around Mosul after a campaign of assassinations.

With the March 7 parliamentary vote drawing closer, attacks against Christians -- whose vote may influence the Kurd-Arab tussle -- could be a sign of voter intimidation, or an attempt by al Qaeda militants to derail the election.

There is a quota in parliament for Christian seats, but there are Christian candidates who are closer to the Kurds, others who are independent and some closer to the Arabs. (Reporting by Jamal Al-Badrani; writing by Jack Kimball; editing by Andrew Roche)

Fifth Christian killed in a week in north Iraq

http://www.france24.com/en/20100220-fifth-christian-killed-week-north-iraq

20 February 2010

AFP - Iraqi police said they found a Christian shopkeeper shot to death in the restive northern city of Mosul on Saturday, the fifth Christian killing in a week thought to be related to March elections.

Adnan al-Dahan, a 57-year-old Syrian Orthodox, was found with bullet wounds to his head in the northern Mosul district of al-Belladiyat, police and his relatives said.

Dahan had been kidnapped from his grocery shop last week in the neighbourhood of Al-Habda, also in northern Mosul, according to a police officer who did not want to be named.

"He was kidnapped last week from his shop but we did not reveal this publicly because we were trying to get him back by paying a ransom," one of Dahan's relatives said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Dahan was the fifth Christian to have been killed during the past week in Mosul, which is located about 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad and has a Christian population of between 2,000 and 3,000.

Local leaders had expressed concern Christians could be targeted ahead of the March 7 parliamentary election in a country wracked by sectarian violence since the US-led invasion of 2003.

In November, Human Rights Watch warned minorities in the oil-rich north including Christians were the collateral victims of a conflict between Arabs and Kurds over who controls Iraq's disputed northern provinces.

On Wednesday, 20-year-old Assyrian (Aramean) Christian student Wissam George's bullet-riddled body was recovered after he went missing the same morning.

A day earlier, a gunman killed 21-year-old engineering student Zia Toma and wounded 22-year-old pharmacy student Ramsin Shmael, both Assyrian (Aramean) Christians.

Greengrocer Fatukhi Munir was gunned down inside his shop in a drive-by shooting late on Monday, and armed assailants killed Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean, outside his home on Sunday.

In late 2008, a systematic campaign of killings and targeted violence killed 40 Christians and saw more than 12,000 flee Mosul.

Kurdish militia tighten grip on non-Kurdish districts in Iraq’s Mosul

By Zeena Sami

 http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-02-18\kurd.htm

Azzaman, February 18, 2010

A senior official in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital has denounced the presence of Kurdish armed militias in several provincial districts and towns.

In response, the militias, known locally as peshmerga, have tightened their grip on these areas, arresting and harassing people and officials resisting their rule.

Osama al-Najaifi accused the Kurds of forging documents and counts in order to legitimize their occupation of these areas.

“The Kurds have controlled these areas through their militias in an attempt to annex them to their region. This is a move which flagrantly violates the law,” he said.

Kurdish militias are even present in Mosul itself. At least half of Mosul, the part on the left bank of the Tigris River, is under Kurdish militia occupation.

Most attacks targeting Iraqi minorities, particularly Iraqi Christians, have taken place in areas under Kurdish militia control in Mosul.

Officially, the provincial districts which the Kurds control, are part of the Province of Nineveh.

But Kurdish militias have the last say in them and this week they mounted an arrest campaign which observers say is politically motivated as it comes a few days before the general elections.

The Kurds have put behind bars Hussain Hamadi, the head of the municipal council in the Christian district of Hamdaniya and the head of the police force in the district of Tal Kaif, a few kilometers away from Mosul.

A representative of Yazidis, a religious minority of several hundred thousand followers to the north-west of Mosul, said Kurdish militias of Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish region, were interfering in his election campaign.

Fourth Christian killed in northern Iraq

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iL8VZjDPD8eGnaYK_2HyCOEqT2Ig

February 17, 2010

By Mujahid Mohammed (AFP)

MOSUL, Iraq — A Christian student was found dead in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, the fourth in as many days, amid warnings of rising violence against the minority ahead of March 7 polls.

The bullet-riddled body of Wissam George, a 20-year-old Assyrian (Aramean) Christian, was recovered on a street in the south Mosul residential neighbourhood of Wadi al-Ain at around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT).

"George went missing this morning on his way to his institute, he was studying to be a teacher," said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

George is the fourth Christian since Sunday to be killed in the city, which has a Christian population of between 2,000 and 3,000.

"What can we say?" said Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the second-most-senior Chaldean bishop in Iraq.

"We are very sad. The government is looking at what is going on, it is speaking, but doing nothing," he told AFP.

On Tuesday, a gunman killed 21-year-old engineering student Zia Toma and wounded 22-year-old pharmacy student Ramsin Shmael, both Assyrian (Aramean) Christians.

Greengrocer Fatukhi Munir was gunned down inside his shop in a drive-by shooting late on Monday, and armed assailants killed Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean, outside his home on Sunday.

"We don't want elections, we don't want representatives, we don't want our rights, we just want to be alive," Baasil Abdul Noor, a priest at Mar Behnam church, said on Tuesday.

"It has become a nightmare. The security forces should not be standing by and watching. We hold them responsible, because they are supposed to be protecting us, and protecting all Iraqis."

Others have expressed concern that Christians could be targeted ahead of the elections, seen as a key test of reconciliation in Iraq, which has been wracked by sectarian violence since the US-led invasion of 2003.

"The Christian minority has become an issue in the elections, as it always is before elections," said Hazem Girgis, a deacon at a Syrian Orthodox church in the city centre.

"We are terrified... and the security forces are not able to offer us any security," said Girgis.

Attacks occur frequently in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province.

Human Rights Watch warned in November that minorities in the north including Christians were the collateral victims of a conflict between Arabs and Kurds over who controls Iraq's disputed northern provinces.

In late 2008, a systematic campaign of killings and targeted violence killed 40 Christians and saw more than 12,000 flee Mosul.

Iraq: In Mosul, 20 year old student killed, for Christians it is like Good Friday

Source: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/In-Mosul,-20-year-old-student-killed,-for-Christians-it-is-like-Good-Friday-17661.html

February 17, 2010

The bullet-ridden body of Wissam Georges is found in Wadi Al-ayn neighbourhood. The young man vanished early in the morning, on his way to school. His murder is the fourth killing targeting Christians in three days. For Mosul Christians, the city has “become immured to this tragedy”.

Mosul – Wissam Georges, a 20-year-old Christian student, was killed today in Mosul, northern Iraq, this according to local police who found his bullet-ridden body. His death is the fourth targeted murder in three days against the Christian community. Among Christians, the assassinations are seen as “a real massacre, like Good Friday.” The city itself has become “immured to this tragedy.”

Police found the young man in the residential neighbourhood of Wadi Al-ayn, the same where an attack was perpetrated against a Chaldean Church. His body was riddled with bullets, a local source said.

Wissam Georges, 20, was studying to be a teacher. He had disappeared in the early morning on his way from Madida in north-west Mosul to the teachers college where he was taking a course to upgrade his training.  

This is the fourth murder targeting the Christian community in three days, a real massacre, according to a source that spoke to AsiaNews on condition of anonymity.  “It is like Good Friday, with no end in sight.”

“We have been abandoned by everybody,” he added. “It is as if the city has become used to this endless tragedy.” (DS)

A Wave of Assassinations of Christians in Mosul

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/24883.htm

A wave of assassination of Christians in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq is in full swing.

In the last 24 hours, two merchants were shot to death at their respective businesses. Someone opened fire on a car carrying Christian students on their way to the university, killing one and wounding another.

A number of Christians have been killed in the city in recent weeks.

[Mosul, the third largest city in Iraq, is a hotbed of Al-Qaeda terrorists.]

Source: Al-Zaman, February 17, 2010

Posted at: 2010-02-17

Three Christians killed in north Iraq

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100216/twl-three-christians-killed-in-north-ira-3cd7efd.html

February 16, 2010

A Christian was killed in the restive city of Mosul on Tuesday, the third in as many days, as community leaders warned of rising violence against the minority ahead of Iraq's March 7 general election.

Christian leaders in Mosul, north of Baghdad, have criticised the security forces for "standing by and watching" as attacks against their community increase in the run-up to the parliamentary poll.

On Tuesday, a gunman emerged from a car in the north of the city and fired at two Christian students with an automatic weapon, according to a police officer who did not want to be named.

The shooter fled together with two other men in the car.

The officer said that Zia Toma, a 21-year-old engineering student, was killed and Ramsin Shmael, a 22-year-old pharmacy student, wounded. Both young men were Assyrian (Aramean) Christians.

"We don't want elections, we don't want representatives, we don't want our rights, we just want to be alive," said Baasil Abdul Noor, a priest at Mar Behnam church in Al-Arabi neighbourhood where the shooting occurred.

"It has become a nightmare. The security forces should not be standing by and watching. We hold them responsible, because they are supposed to be protecting us, and protecting all Iraqis."

Also in Mosul on Tuesday, two policemen were killed and nine other people wounded as a car bomb hit a police forensics bureau, emergency services said.

Tuesday's murder of the student came after gunmen in Mosul killed two shop owners from Iraq's Christian minority in separate attacks, prompting community leaders to criticise the security forces.

Greengrocer Fatukhi Munir, an Assyrian (Aramean) Catholic, was gunned down inside his shop in a drive-by shooting late on Monday, and armed assailants killed Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean Christian, outside his home on Sunday.

"I condemn this organised campaign against Christians," said Yahya Abid Mahsoob, human rights committee chair of the provincial council of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital.

"We (the provincial council) call upon the local and central government to take all precautions to protect Christians."

Others have expressed concerns that Christians could be targeted in violence ahead of the elections seen as a key test of reconciliation in Iraq, which has been wracked by sectarian hostilities since the 2003 US-led invasion.

"The Christian minority has become an issue in the elections, as it always is before elections," said Hazem Girgis, a deacon at an Orthodox church in the town centre.

"We are terrified... and the security forces are not able to offer us any security," said Girgis.

Attacks occur on a regular basis in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province, which is among Iraq's most violent areas.

Human Rights Watch warned in November that minorities including Christians in the north were the collateral victims of a conflict between Arabs and Kurds over who controls Iraq's disputed northern provinces.

In late 2008, a systematic campaign of killings and targeted violence killed 40 Christians and saw more than 12,000 others flee Mosul.

**********************The events of 2008**********************

Kurds seen behind attacks on Christians

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10255466.html

By Basil Adas, Correspondent

Published: October 29, 2008, 23:43

Baghdad: Kurdish involvement is suspected in the recent wave of violence against Christians in Mosul, Gulf News has learnt.

"Investigations have been completed and proved the involvement of Kurdish militias in the displacement and killing of Christians," Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki reportedly said during a discussion with Iraqi lawmakers, according to Osama Al Nojaifi, a deputy in the Iraqi parliament.

Al Nojaifi said Al Maliki had ordered Kurdish units in the Iraqi army out of Mosul but was reluctant to officially announce details of the investigations for fear they would destabilise his government.

There is mounting pressure on Al Maliki from the Vatican and some Western countries to hold the perpetrators accountable for the killings, according to sources.

Chaldean bishop: appeal for Mosul, emptied of Christians

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13587&size=A

10/27/2008 I

by Rabban Al-Qas

Urged by the appeal of Benedict XVI, Rabban Al Qas, bishop of Ammadiya and Erbil, asks prime minister al Maliki and the American forces to accept responsibility for the violence afflicting Christians, the result of an intolerant fundamentalism that has never been halted. A request to the Islamic world as well, that it condemn what is taking place in Mosul. Tomorrow in Erbil, a meeting of Chaldean bishops and of the Vatican nuncio.

Iraqi bishops reject annexing Christian areas by Kurds

 http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2008-10-24%5Ckurd.htm

Azzaman, October 24, 2008

Iraqi bishops have urged their hard-pressed Christian communities to reject moves to annex their areas to the Kurdish autonomous regions.

The bishops made the statement following a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in which they expressed their fears for the fate of Christian existence in Iraq particularly in the northern city of Mosul and it suburbs.

The Province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital, currently includes the largest remaining concentration of Christians in Iraq whose numbers have dwindled drastically since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Asked whether they would prefer Christians to be part of the semi-independent Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, Bishop Shlemoun Wardooni, the second highest ranking Christian cleric in Iraq, said:

“We do not want to be part of this (Kurdish enclave). We always want to be continuously associated with the central government. We want to live amid our brethren all over the country.”

The comments are a blow to Kurdish moves to add the string of strategically situated Christian villages in the Nineveh plateau to their region.

The Kurds have occupied most of Christian areas and have deployed their militias inside Mosul.

Reports say more than half of Christians living in Mosul have fled in the past few weeks, some going to Syria and some seeking refuge in the remaining Christian monasteries and villages east and north of the city.

It is not clear who is behind the latest campaign of intimidation in which at least 14 Christians have been killed.

In their rush to flee, families have left behind almost everything including personal belongings.

The government has vindicated al-Qaeda and other anti-U.S. groups.

Maliki has blamed what he described as “a political plan aimed at exploiting the Christians.”

Analysts say Maliki was referring to Kurds who openly consider Christians and their areas as part of their territory.

The Kurds have denied the accusations.

More violence in Mosul: father and son killed because they were Christian

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13560&geo=23&size=A

10/23/2008

Despite the hopes of the government and part of the population, the massacre of Christians continues in Iraq. The killing could be another signal for the Christians to leave the country. Prime minister al Maliki promises to "punish the guilty and their supporters."

Government fails to halt anti-Christian campaign in Mosul

 http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-22\kurd.htm

Azzaman, October 22, 2008

The measures the government has taken so far have failed to put an end to the exodus of Christians from the northern city of Mosul.

Thousands of Christian families have fled the city following threats from unidentified groups. So far 14 Christians have been killed in the city.

Some Iraqi politicians and media have raised questions on the timing and scale of the anti-Christian campaign in a city traditionally known for its tolerance.

There are no exact figures on the numbers of Christians in Mosul but for centuries the city has been one of Christianity’s main centers in Iraq with scores of churches and monasteries some of them of great antiquity.

Iraqi Christian monks are reported to have fled the Monastery of Mar Gerwargees, the last inhabited abode in the city of an ancient order which traces its roots to the Persian Christian Saint Hormuz who was killed centuries before the birth of Islam.

There are no clear answers to who is behind the campaign to force the Christians to flee. Some local media reports, quoting government officials, blame Kurdish militias which control Mosul’s left bank which has been emptied of its Christian population.

Tens of thousands of Christians from Mosul and its suburbs demonstrated when Iraqi parliament last month removed a paragraph from the constitutional which allowed Iraqi Christians and other minorities a set of seats in provincial councils.

Kurdish deputies in the parliament spearheaded the move to have the paragraph removed.

Analysts say the Kurds were shocked by Christian protests.

Chaldean bishop of Kirkuk: Christians being driven out of Mosul for political reasons

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13552&geo=1&size=A

10/22/2008

The prelate launches an appeal, calling upon all to defend the minorities in Iraq, and the Christian minority, the target of many attacks, especially in Mosul. For the bishop, the Christians are victims of a political game connected to the upcoming elections, and to the project for a Christian enclave in the plain of Nineveh. An appeal to the Christians of the West as well, that they denounce every act of violence and to demonstrate solidarity and fellowship.

Kirkuk (AsiaNews) - Since the beginning of October, Mosul has seen yet another wave of violence against Christians. The city and the community of the faithful have already paid a high price in blood in the past, with the killing of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Fr. Ragheed Gani, and dozens of others. Mosul, a multiethnic city, is inhabited by Christians of various confessions, Sunnis and Shiites, Yazidi, Arabs, Turkmen, and Kurds. These killings of a confessional nature make coexistence increasingly difficult, and are increasing the accusations between the Kurdish government, responsible for order in Mosul, and the central government. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, wanted to share with the readers of AsiaNews his concerns about these events

Who persecutes Christians in Iraq?

 http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-20\kurd.htm

Azzaman, October 20, 2008

The current plight of Christians in the northern city of Mosul is a reminder of how precarious conditions in Iraq as whole are.

At least 2,500 families have been forced to leave the city, a dozen killed and many of their houses destroyed.

Christians are not the only minority under persecution but their fleeing is being highlighted because it comes at a crucial moment for Iraq and particularly its northern region.

And therefore many have began raising questions on who would benefit from forcing thousasnds of families out in the open from a city which has traditionally been known for its tolerance and a mosaic of cultures, religions, sects and ethnicities.

Neither the government nor the Christians themselves have clearly specified who could be behind the current wave of persecution.

Iraq’s al-Qaeda group has denied responsibility. So have all the other groups fighting U.S. occupation.

The Kurds, who keep a sizeable force of their militias known as Peshmerga in the city, have even mocked at reports implicating them in the persecution. And of course the government says it is doing its best to preserve peace and punish the perpetrators.

This newspaper blames no one but it sees that most media reports have overlooked the reality of the current situation in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital.

Sunni Arabs are predominant in the province but they are mainly concentrated on the right bank of the Tigris River. The left bank along with a string of villages and small towns to the east, north and west of the city is a mix of peoples among them Yazidis, Shebeks, Turkmen  as well as Christians.

With the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Kurdish militias occupied Yazidi, Christian and Shebek areas and moved their control as far as the left bank of Mosul.

Kurdish leaders do not hide their claims to these areas and their insistence that their inhabitants are ethnic Kurds. Kurdish leaders’ tactics have turned many Christians, Yazidis, Shebeks and Tukmen against them. As for the Sunni Arabs, many of them draw parallels between Kurdish occupation of these areas and U.S. occupation of Iraq and that both must be resisted.

Calls on Kurdish militias to withdraw have fallen on deaf ears. On the contrary, they have solidified their armed presence in the Province.

Kurdish leaders are notorious for their political favoritism and tactics. In 1996, Massoud Barazani, sent a personal letter to Saddam Hussein pleading with him to send troops to fight his opponent Jalal Talabani whose militias had then spread their  control over most of northern Iraq. Anyone found writing to Saddam in such beseeching and friendly terms would have certainly been covered by the government’s infamous policy of debaathification.

Talabani did the same a few years later when he felt that his militia stronghold of Sulaimaniya was in danger of being overrun by the al-Qaeda-sponsored Ansar al-Islam, which had established a foot in his areas. Saddam sent advisers, money and weapons and some say even troops to help him contain the threat.

If Christians, Shebeks and Yazids vote for Kurds in the forthcoming provincial elections, the Kurds will have the upper hand in Nineveh. This might be some form of a conspiracy scenario but such scenarios are not impossible in a failed country like Iraq.

Some say Christians are partly to blame for their plight. First, they have divided themselves into ‘ethnic groups’ relying on their denominations. The so-called Assyrians, who say they are the descendants of the Assyrian Empire, are openly calling for an autonomous region, separate from the Kurdish and Arab areas. The so-called Chaldeans, who say they are the descendants of the ancient Chaldean Empire, have mostly aligned themselves with the Kurds at the expense of their traditional neutrality.

Christian numbers have dwindled in Iraq. Nonetheless, some of their spiritual leaders openly associate themselves with the ‘Christian’ West and particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The leaders of Iraqi Catholics, who are the majority, were too timid to issue a statement rejecting Pope Benedict XVI negative remarks on Islam in his 12 September 2006 lecture in Germany.

The leader of the Iraqi Catholics was promoted to a Cardinal, raising Muslim suspicions of some form of complicity.

And finally, one can mention the nature of U.S. invasion of Iraq and President George W. Bush’s fundamentalist Christian base in America.

U.S. missionaries came to Iraq with the invasion, rousing Muslim fears that the troops were sent not to ‘liberate’ but ‘proselytize’. Some of these missionaries were brutally murdered.

And instead of proselytizing, these fundamentalist evangelicals began persuading Iraqi Christians to convert. Iraqi evangelical church established roots in Baghdad and other areas among Iraqi Christians, which made many Muslims view them as collaborators of a foreign invader.

The U.S. invasion and its repercussions have dealt the heaviest blow to Christianity in Iraq in its long history which scholars trace to the 1^st century A.D.

Iraq's Christians "sacrificial lambs" as attacks mount

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49I1HN20081019

Sun Oct 19, 2008

By Missy Ryan

AL-QOSH, Iraq (Reuters) - A Christian family huddles in an austere room in a monastery in northern Iraq, their belongings piled up around them. It is now home, since members of their religious minority became targets of sectarian attacks.

The father, an engineer who was so scared that he asked to keep his name and that of his family unidentified, rushed his wife and two daughters to the Chaldean Catholic al-Saida monastery at the foot of arid mountains in northern Iraq on October 9, a day after hearing that four fellow Christians were killed.

"The explosions continue. There is no safety," he says with his youngest daughter draped on his lap.

Such is the plight of some 1,500 Christian families who in the past two weeks have fled homes in Iraq's ethnically mixed, and stubbornly violent, city of Mosul.

U.S., U.N. and Iraqi officials have condemned the attacks, which some in Iraq believe could foreshadow renewed bloodshed even as violence drops sharply across the country.

The exodus of close to half of Mosul's Christians shows the fragility of security gains, especially in areas where cultures, religions and ethnicities collide. It also raises the specter of violence ahead of provincial elections that could alter the power balance in strategic cities like Mosul.

So far, no one has taken responsibility for the deaths of about 12 Christians this month, which were followed by death threats and property attacks that prompted thousands to flee.

Christians whisper that they are targets of a systematic campaign against them. Some blame Islamic militants, while others quietly point a finger at Mosul's politically powerful Kurdish minority. Most are too frightened to go into details.

SACRIFICIAL LAMBS

It is not the first time that members of Iraq's Christian community, who number in the hundreds of thousands, have fallen prey to the bloodshed that has convulsed Iraq since 2003.

Earlier this year, Mosul's aging Chaldean Archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped. His body was found two weeks later despite pleas from Pope Benedict for his release.

During a visit on Saturday to the al-Saida monastery, where more than 60 Christian families from Mosul have taken refuge, U.S. Brigadier General Tony Thomas, commander in the province, asked church leaders who they believed was behind the attacks.

"I will give you a guarantee: I will crush them. I will crush whoever it is," the American general said.

The priests refused to assign outright blame.

"I am not a politician. I don't know what the political agenda is," said Father Gabriele Tooma, a Chaldean superior in al-Qosh. "We don't want to be the sacrificial lambs. We don't want to be fuel for these politicians' games."

Another priest, who asked not to be named, blamed the authorities for failing to protect the victims. "If my house is robbed and I have guards, who is the first person I will ask about the theft?" he asked Thomas.

Senior U.S. military officials have said Sunni Muslim al Qaeda or similar Islamist groups are behind the attacks.

U.S. commanders say Mosul is the last big city in Iraq that still has a large al Qaeda presence. U.S. intelligence describes at least 12 insurgent organizations believed to be active in the area, from ideological groups such as al Qaeda to neo-Baathists.

The attackers' goal is "to de-legitimize the government here," said Thomas. "The enemy we are fighting here is searching the social fabric here ... to cause that fabric to rupture."

DISAFFECTED ARABS, MINORITY GOVERNMENT

But other U.S. officials are less certain whom to blame, and describe a host of potentially destabilizing forces at play in a tense region ruled by a weak, minority provincial government.

About 60 percent of the 2.8 million population of the province of which Mosul is the capital are Sunni Arabs, and about a quarter are Kurds. The army around Mosul is mainly Kurdish, which angers many of the city's Arabs.

Seats on the provincial governing council are now held mostly by Kurds after most Sunnis boycotted the last provincial polls in 2005. But the balance of power in Mosul is expected to change when provincial elections take place by late January.

Christians, who are believed to number around 250,000 to 300,000 in the province, could be a swing vote, targeted by one side or the other in a fight for power.

Unrest in Mosul is exacerbated by a jobless rate of around 60 percent and years of delays in fixing basic services like electricity, sewage, proper health care and education.

"You've got a perfect storm of political alienation, unemployment, disruption in rural economies, scattering of rural households -- so you've got a political grievances," said one U.S. government official in Mosul, unauthorized to speak on the record. "Match that to a potential labor pool of insurgents, and throw foreign terrorist organizations into the mix." 

U.S. and Iraqi forces are rolling out a new security operation which they hope will root out remaining insurgents, suppress political violence and protect minorities in Mosul.

But as of Saturday, just seven Christian families had returned to their homes, Thomas said. "Obviously, we can't force them back in, but we're trying to encourage them."

Fatwa issued in support of embattled Mosul Christians

Friday, 17th October 2008. 2:06pm

By: Nick Mackenzie.

The Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Bakir al-Nassiri has issued a fatwa (religious decree) yesterday stating the Christians whose lives are subjected to threats in the city of Mosul should be provided with aid and patronage, calling on the Iraqi government to take all the necessary measures to protect them.

Al-Nassiri, who is considered one of the most important clergy in the South, declared in a special interview with the "Aswat al-Iraq" News Agency that it is the duty of every able Iraqi to stand up for the Christians not only in Mosul but wherever they exist in Iraq, describing them as "brothers whose protection is incumbent on every Iraqi."

The Grand Ayatollah praised the Iraqi government's efforts to safeguard the Christians by its swift reaction to the tragedy and also called on the officials to exert more efforts to provide security in the rest of the Iraqi cities.

Al-Nassiri added that targeting the Christians is one link in a chain of conspiracies that the Iraqi people as a whole have been subjected to, and went on to accuse what he called "external and internal powers" of planting the seeds of discord and sedition among the components of the Iraqi people by committing such crimes.

Men arrested in attacks on Iraqi Christians

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/17/iraq.arrests.christians/index.html

Fri October 17, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi security forces Friday arrested four men in Mosul for allegedly committing criminal attacks against civilians in that northern city, particularly against Christians, a defense ministry spokesman said.

"We know that they are part of a criminal gang that has been committing criminal acts in Mosul and we will do our best to arrest the rest," Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari told CNN.

Killings and threats against Christians in Mosul have prompted at least 6,000 Christians to flee the city, Iraq's Ministry of Immigration and Displaced Persons announced Thursday. The number represents 1,424 families.

Iraq officials have said the families were frightened by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists ordering them to convert to Islam or risk death.

Fourteen Christians have been slain in the past two weeks in the city, which is about 260 miles (420 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

Mosul is one of the last Iraqi cities where al Qaeda in Iraq has a significant presence and routinely carries out attacks. The U.S. military said it killed the Sunni militant group's No. 2 leader Abu Qaswarah in a raid in the northern city earlier this month.

Asked Friday whether the four men arrested Friday were connected to al Qaeda in Iraq or another Islamist radical group, al-Askari said, "The four were known criminals and the Iraqi security forces is investigating the crimes committed by these four outlaws and we will issue a press release about this once the investigation is complete."

No other details were provided.

Al-Askari added authorities have also arrested 10 people in Mosul's Zanjeelee district. A Syrian was among them.

It was not immediately clear if those arrests were connected to the attacks on Christians.

Authorities have ordered more checkpoints in several of the city's Christian neighborhoods in response to the attacks.

Recent Christian demonstrations ahead of provincial elections -- which are to be held the end of January -- may have prompted the attacks, authorities said. Hundreds of Christians took to the streets in Mosul and surrounding villages and towns, demanding adequate representation on provincial councils, whose members will be chosen in the local elections.

Christians Flee Mosul Following Increase in Violence

http://www.impunitywatch.com/impunity_watch_middle_eas/2008/10/christians-flee.html

17 October 2008

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq - On October 17, Iraqi forces arrested four men alleged to have been involved in recent attacks against mostly Christian civilians in Mosul.  The Iraqi authorities blame the recent wave of violence and intimidation targeting Iraqi Christians on Sunni militants, who maintain a strong presence in the city.

Over the past two weeks, at least fourteen Christians were killed in Mosul.  Many families are frightened by the increase in attacks and threats from Muslim extremists to convert to Islam or risk death.

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Displaced Persons, the recent wave of violence against the Iraqi Christian population has led to the evacuation of between 6,000 and 9,000 Christians from Mosul, representing over 1,300 families.  According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the displaced populations represent roughly half of the Christian population in and around Mosul.

UNHCR officials have stated that many of those who fled from the violence over the past several weeks have told officials that they will only return to the city if and when their safety and security is assured by local authorities.

Iraqi authorities claim that the increased attacks on Iraqi Christians are likely due to recent Christian demonstrations ahead of the provincial elections, scheduled for January.  During the demonstrations, hundreds of Christians took to the streets in Mosul and surrounding areas demanding adequate representation in the provincial councils.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to protect the Iraqi Christian community.  Earlier this week his office released a statement that he was ordering the Iraqi army and police to the city, "to provide protection for members of this community" and that security forces would "target the terrorist groups" behind the attacks. 

The Iraqi government has responded to the increasing violence and intimidation targeting Christians by imposing a curfew and increasing the number of checkpoints in several Mosul neighborhoods with predominantly Christian populations. 

While the government has made additional arrests, it is unclear if these arrests are connected to the violence against Christians.  However, according to Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, "We know that they are part of a criminal gang that has been committing criminal acts in Mosul and we will do our best to arrest the rest."

US and Iraqi Commanders consider Mosul to be the last urban stronghold of Al Qaeda in Iraq.  Despite the governments efforts to curb sectarian violence, the current security sweeps in Mosul, aimed at displacing the insurgents seem to be worsening the situation for the city's Christian population

Christians flee Mosul after threats, attacks - UNHCR

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36023020081017?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Fri Oct 17, 2008

GENEVA (Reuters) - About half of the Christians in Iraq's northern town of Mosul, nearly 10,000 people, have fled in the past week after attacks and threats, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Iraq's ministry of displacement and migration had reported that about 1,560 families or 9,360 people left Mosul. UNHCR could not confirm the figure but was concerned about the mass displacement.

"The displaced population would represent about half of the Christians in the Mosul area," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.

Most Christian Iraqis had decided to leave Mosul following "direct as well as indirect threats and intimidation," he said.

Printed threats had been received on the university campus, in homes and on text messages sent to mobile phones, Redmond said. "We really don't have a firm indication or do people we've talked to know exactly where the threats are coming from."

Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, remains one of Iraq's most restive cities even as violence has dramatically dropped elsewhere in the country.

The Iraqi authorities and the U.S. military says that al Qaeda, the Sunni Islamist militant group allied to Osama bin Laden that Washington blames for much of Iraq's violence, are still active in Mosul.

At least a dozen people were wounded in a series of bomb explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday in the city, and at least two insurgents were killed in clashes with police.

Most of the Christians who fled Mosul are staying with relatives in surrounding areas, while some have gone as far as Dahuk and Arbil, Redmond said.

Relief items including food, clothing, blankets, stoves and clean water are urgently needed for those staying in community buildings, including churches, according to the UNHCR.

Most of the uprooted told UNHCR officials that they feared for their lives. "A few told us that they will only return if and when their safety and security can be assured by the local authorities," Redmond said.

Christian Iraqis displaced from Mosul

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/5b2f60d99a8ed7d714e5d8719b5b8130.htm

17 Oct 2008 10:11:56 GMT

Source: UNHCR

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

UNHCR is concerned about the displacement of Christian Iraqis from Mosul which started last week. We have received information from the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) in Mosul that approximately 1,560 families (some 9,360 people) have been displaced so far, although UNHCR cannot confirm this number. The displaced population would represent about half of the Christians in the Mosul area.

In recent days, we have sent at least 10 field assessment missions to areas surrounding Mosul, including Telesquf, Batnaya, Bartilla, Baashiqa, Akre, Shekhan. We've also had UNHCR teams in areas of Dahuk and Erbil, where Christians have sought refuge.

According to initial reports, most Christian Iraqis decided to leave Mosul following direct as well as indirect threats and intimidation. One of those interviewed witnessed the killing of a Christian Iraqi on the street, while several of the displaced told us they had received printed threats at the university campus, in their homes and through text messages on their mobiles. Several others told our teams that they left when they heard news of 11 reported killings of Christians in Mosul. Others were warned by family members, friends and neighbours of potential threats and decided to leave before it was too late.

Most of the families who fled are staying with extended family members, friends within the host community or in collective community buildings, including church facilities. There is an urgent need for food, clothes, non-food items (such as blankets, mattresses, and stoves), health facilities, hygiene kits, clean water and access to school.

Over the past week, UNHCR and our partner, International Medical Corps (IMC), have distributed non-food items to a total of 802 families (about 4,800 people). We expect to have reached over 1,500 families by early next week, both new arrivals as well as those displaced people we have not been able to reach yet. Food and kerosene and additional assistance have been distributed by other UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and local authorities. A decision was also taken on Wednesday by the Ministers of Displacement and Migration and Defence to make available an immediate cash grant of 300,000 – 500,000 Iraqi dinars ( $250-$425 ) to the displaced families, and another 1.5 million dinars ($1,250) to those who decide to return.

For now, most of the displaced we spoke to do not envisage return to their homes as an immediate option, as they fear for their lives. A few told us that they will only return if and when their safety and security can be assured by the local authorities.

UNHCR's led protection and assistant centres in Kirkuk and Mosul will continue to closely monitor the situation on the ground.

Iraqi Christians Flee Mosul Violence

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=6047935&page=1

Ali Al-Mashakheel

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2008

About 1,700 Iraqi Christian families have now fled their homes after a campaign to displace them in the city of Mosul started about two weeks ago.

Authorities said 11 Christians have been killed and at least five homes have been blown up since the terror began.

American military officials believe al Qaeda militants are behind the attacks.

One refugee, who was too afraid to give his name, told ABC News he fled nearly two weeks ago: "A good friend of mine was shot to death inside his own pharmacy, so we ran from our house early the next morning, taking our two infant children. My wife and I were weeping in sadness to leave our home."

"It is only 10 days and I miss every single brick of my house," he said.

Text massages, leaflets and e-mails were sent to Christian families, ordering them to leave their homes under penalty of death.

Shamuel Shlaimoon, a Christian official in Mosul from the Democratic Assyrian movement, told ABC News that of the 6,000 Christian families living in the city, "540 families have fled to Telkef, in northern Mosul province, 1,162 families have gone to Hamdanya, on the eastern outskirts of Mosul city and some have even fled as far as Baghdad."

"Not one Christian family has yet returned home," Shlaimoon said. "They won't even allow our own party officials to photograph them because they are afraid if they ever return they might be harmed."

According to a press release from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office, 1,000 police officers were sent to the area to protect Christian neighborhoods and churches, and to put an end to the persecution.

Aid organizations are also sending food, water and blankets to help displaced families.

U.S. Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, spokesman for Multi-National Forces in Iraq, characterized the oppression as a classic al Qaeda tactic: "This is routine work for al Qaeda in Iraq," he said.

However, a Sunni member of Iraq's parliament who represents a Mosul constituency disagrees.

Usama al Nujaifi, with the Iraqiya List, has accused Iraqi Kurds of carrying out the displacement campaign.

Christians and other religious minorities have frequently been targeted by Islamic extremists since the 2003 U.S. invasion, forcing tens of thousands to flee Iraq, although attacks slowed with a nationwide decline in violence.

Attacks on Mosul Christians condemned by UN

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=64969

Issue 7596 - 17 October, 2008

by Gerald Butt, Middle East Correspondent

THE United Nations has condemned the recent spate of attacks against Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Over the past two weeks, at least 14 Christians have been killed, and more than 1300 families have fled the city.

In the most recent incident, the owner of a music store was shot dead by gunmen. His nephew, who was in the shop at the time, was injured. A number of shopkeepers have been targeted, and houses belonging to Christian families have been blown up. Those killed over the past two weeks include an engineer, a doctor, and a disabled man.

The UN’s Special Representative for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, said that the murders were “aimed at fuelling ten­sions, and exacerbate instability at a crucial time. Respecting and guaran­­teeing the political rights of minori­ties in Iraq is fundamental to a stable and democratic future for the country.”

UN sources say that many of the Christian families who have left Mosul over recent days had arrived there earlier from Baghdad, be­lieving they would be safer in the northern city. Up to now, Mosul has had the reputation of being one of the most relaxed cities in Iraq, with Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen living in harmony.

The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, has ordered an investiga­tion into the increase in violence in Mosul, and has ordered the deploy­ment of 1000 extra police on the streets. The latest reports from the city say the number of attacks on Christians has diminished since arri­val of the police reinforcements.

It is unclear who is behind the campaign targeting Christians. The Sunni extremist al-Qaeda organisa­tion and Kurdish groups are among those being blamed.

Christians are uncertain which group has been carrying out the killings, but they are in no doubt about why they are happening. The Archbishop of Kirkuk, the Most Revd Louis Sako, said: “We are the target of a campaign of liquidation, a cam­paign of violence.” In the view of Yousif Gorgees, a Christian in nor­thern Iraq, “It’s a systematic, planned scheme to empty Mosul of all Christians.”

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Christians in Iraq, who constitute only three per cent of the country’s population of 28 million, have felt increasingly vulner­able. Several thousand have moved to safety in Jordan and Syria.

After his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, the Bishop in Cyprus & the Gulf, the Rt Revd Michael Lewis, said that Christians in Iraq felt isolated and largely neglected by Christianity worldwide. He said that lay and ordained Iraqi Christians he spoke to “felt during and after the 2003 invasion it was a scandal that no attention was paid to the religious complexity of the country and the extremely ancient, honoured, and acknowledged position of Christians of various sorts there”.

Christians who remain in Iraq worry that “the rest of world Chris­tianity has taken its eye off them and the particular plight they face.”

Agencies reported on Friday that Archbishop Sako, the most senior Chaldean cleric in Iraq, warned that Christians in his country face “liquidation” if the Iraqi government and the US military do not increase protection for religious minorities in Iraq.

Qaeda not involved in forcing Christians to leave Mosul, government says

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/38084

16 October 2008 (Azzaman)

There are no indications that the Qaeda group in Iraq is involved in forcing Christians to flee the northern city of Mosul, a senior Interior Ministry official said.

But Ministry spokesman Abdulkarim Khalaf declined to say who was behind the latest wave of anti-Christian violence in the city, a traditional center of Christianity in Iraq.

However Khalaf said, “I do not think al-Qaeda is behind the attacks against Mosul Christians.”

More than 1,300 Christian families have fled the city and more than 13 Christians have been killed in the past two weeks.

Most of the victims and the fleeing refugees lived on the left bank of the city where Kurdish militias are in control as it is mainly a Kurdish-inhabited area.

Most of the Christians on the right bank of the Tigris River, a predominately Arab sector, are reported to have preferred to stay.

Anti-Christian violence has concentrated in areas where Kurdish militias exercise almost full control.

But residents say an explosive charge placed at the entrance of an ancient church in the Arab quarter went off on Tuesday, inflicting some material damage but causing no injuries.

Iraqi resistance groups fighting U.S. occupation including as al-Qaeda have issued statements denying their involvement.

The Kurds have also denied that their militias were behind the latest violence.

Iraq: attacks on Christians continue in Mosul

http://www.ww4report.com/node/6165

Submitted by WW4 Report on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 02:31.

The number of Christian families who have fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in the past week has reached 1,350, Nineveh provincial authorities said Oct. 15. Fourteen Christians have been slain in the past two weeks in the city. On Oct. 14, the Miskinta Church in the Old City district of Mosul was bombed, causing damage to the building but no casualties. Many of the displaced families have fled to predominantly Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain, northeast of the city. Church leaders accuse the Iraqi government of trying to cover up the extent of the crisis.

"For Christians in Mosul this is a time for tears, because from the beginning we did not get support, least of all from state officials," Msgr. Shlemon Warduni, the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Patriarchate, told a Shi'ite delegation during a meeting on Tuesday at the Virgin Mary Church in eastern Baghdad. "The government acted only belatedly."

As the government announced plans Oct. 14 to send officials to Mosul to assist the Christian community, the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr dispatched some of his most senior aides from Najaf to Baghdad to meet with church leaders in an expression of solidarity. Sheikh Muhanned al-Gharrawi conveyed a message from his leader: "We will not hesitate to turn into human shields for our Christian brothers if need be."

The Kurdistan Regional Government Oct. 15 condemned the attacks on Christians, and denied claims from some Christian leaders that it was behind the violence in a campaign to drive non-Kurds out of the region. Meanwhile in Baghdad, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said there was no evidence to suggest al-Qaeda in Iraq was behind the attacks either.

The US military announced Oct. 15 that coalition forces had recently killed al-Qaeda in Iraq's senior leader in northern Iraq. Abu Qaswarah AKA Abu Sara was killed during an operation in Mosul on Oct. 5, the military said. The Moroccan native is said to have been second in command to al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri. (UPI, Oct. 16; NYT, CNN, Oct. 15)

Kurds and Arabs exchange accusations over attacks on Christians in Mosul

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13493&geo=23&size=A

16-10-2008

The government says it does not believe that al Qaeda is behind the killings. Condemnation of the attacks has also come from the the highest Shiite authority, grand ayatollah Ali Sistani.

KRG statement on forced displacement and violence against Christians in Mosul

Statement by the Kurdistan Regional Government

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been closely monitoring the recent abuses being inflicted upon the Christians of Mosul city, which has forced them to abandon their homes and properties and flee to other parts of Iraq. These tragedies are a result of religious fanatics and terrorist groups launching numerous attacks against the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs of the city that have led to property destruction, death and forced deportation of these indigenous people from their ancestral lands.

The KRG has ordered all the KRG ministries, departments and relevant parties to assist and help the victims as much as possible.

Under these circumstances the KRG Council of Ministers has declared:

First, we strongly condemn all acts of harassment, terror and intimidation against the Christian civilians of Mosul city and call upon all relevant authorities of the federal government to both address and put an end to this catastrophe as soon as possible.

We ask that all the displaced Christian citizens be allowed to return to their homes and be compensated for the losses they have endured.

We reiterate our support for the full rights of the Christians in Provincial Councils, under Article 50 of the Provincial Election Law.

Finally, we condemn the malicious efforts of some parties who have unjustly accused groups within the Kurdistan Region of committing these heinous crimes. Such efforts are aimed at tarnishing the Kurdistani people and turning a blind eye on the true culprits. The Kurdistan Regional Government has always been at the forefront of defending the rights of Christians, and continues to be fully devoted to the betterment of their living conditions and securing their rights and general welfare.

Iraq: 8,300 Christians Flee Mosul

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1850434,00.html

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

(BAGHDAD) — An Iraqi official says the number of Christian families fleeing violence in the northern city of Mosul since last week has reached 1,390 — or more than 8,300 people.

The official, Jawdat Ismaeel, says the families are seeking refuge in Christian-dominated towns and villages in the area.

Ismaeel said Wednesday that teams are distributing food and aid materials to the displaced families.

Islamic extremists have frequently targeted Christians and other religious minorities since the 2003 U.S. invasion. The attacks have forced tens of thousands to flee Iraq — although they have slowed with a nationwide decline in violence.

1,350 Christian families flee Mosul

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/10/15/1350_Christian_families_flee_Mosul/UPI-30651224088727/

MOSUL, Iraq, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Iraqi officials say 1,350 Christian families fled following attacks in which 14 Christians were killed in the northern city of Mosul.

Many of the refugees who left the city to escape Muslim extremists have set up camps at Burtulla in Nineveh province about 250 miles north of Baghdad, local officials told CNN Wednesday.

The broadcaster said officials claim the fleeing families had been frightened by the killings of 14 Christians in Mosul in the past two weeks and by threats from Muslims ordering them to convert to Islam or face possible death.

Authorities said the slayings were prompted by upcoming provincial elections. Christians had street protests in Mosul demanding more representation on provincial councils but were met with an angry reaction by Muslim extremists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7671609.stm

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

At least 1,300 Christian families have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul after an upsurge of violence against them by Muslim extremists, the authorities say.

Thousands of people have sought refuge in outlying villages since last week after a dozen Christians were murdered, said local official Jawdat Ismail.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has vowed to protect the community.

About a third of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians are believed to have fled abroad since the invasion of 2003.

Mr Ismail, head of Mosul's bureau of displaced people, said food and other aid is being distributed to those who have recently left the city.

More than 8,300 people have fled the violence, blamed on Sunni militants, this month, according to the Associated Press news agency.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US condemned the violence against Iraq's Christians.

"The US embassy in Baghdad condemns the recent attacks against Iraqis in cities such as Baghdad and Nineveh, including those attacks targeting Christian communities in Mosul," it said.

Police have set up checkpoints at churches in Mosul's four largely Christian areas and are patrolling the streets on foot, a correspondent for the AFP news agency has reported.

A major operation by the security forces aimed at displacing insurgents has been under way for months in Mosul, which is considered by US and Iraqi commanders as the last urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that, unlike similar campaigns in the Iraqi capital and Basra, the situation in Mosul seems to be getting worse

A plea for action as Mosul Christians exodus continues

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MCOI-7KFPNB?OpenDocument

Date: 15 Oct 2008

Baghdad_(dpa) _ The deportation of Iraqi Christians from their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been all to familiar over the past week, after several were murdered.

"The forced displacement is an awful scene, because it affects the social fabric of our country," said Pascal Warda, a human rights activist.

"The exodus of Christians from Mosul these days is very organised compared to what used to happen in Iraq during the years that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, as it comes at a time when the government is imposing control over vast areas of the country," Warda told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Over the past two weeks, at least 12 Christians have been murdered in Mosul and thousands have fled the city after recent threats scared them and forced them to leave their homes and jobs.

The rise in the attacks has coincided with major demonstrations by Christian groups protesting the removal of Article 50 from the provincial elections law, which was approved by the Presidential Council last week.

"Armed groups and militias threaten Christian families to leave immediately or else be killed - something that has blackened the file of Iraqi democracy. This is why the government should work hard to stop it," said Warda, the second displacement and migration minister since the US-lead invasion in 2003.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is sending seven ministers to Mosul city to review the crisis and help displaced Christian families. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry has increased the number of police in the city to protect the Christian neighbourhoods.

"More than one million Christians have migrated from Iraq after being harassed. More than 40 per cent of all Iraqis who fled abroad during the past five years are minorities," said Warda, a mother of two.

Various communities such as Christians, Shiites and Kurds live in Mosul along with the Sunni majority. The city is also historically a center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, and is the site of the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum.

"What is happening in Mosul these days - the targeting of innocent people - grieves me deeply. I think it is a step backwards for democracy and a clear violation of human rights," said Warda.

The heads of churches in Mosul have meanwhile called on their followers to stay calm, urging the media to stop stirring up sectarian tension.

They also called on Muslim scholars to increase efforts to calm the situation and urge citizens to respect principles of religious freedom, according to a statement quoted by the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

"We Christians have always lived with, and continue to coexist with, our Muslim brothers in the same country, in a climate of peace and fraternity and a spirit of affection and cooperation," the statement added.

Iraqi Christians constitute some 636,000 of the Iraqi population. Most speak an ancient Aramaic dialect. They live in the northern provinces of Arbil, Nineveh and Dahuk.

The head of the Shiite Endowments Authority expressed concern Wednesday over the repeated acts of violence targeting Christians in Mosul, according to a statement released by the authority.

The head of the Christian Endowments Authority, Abdullah Harmaz al-Noufali, said that a Christian delegation would arrive in Najaf city next week to meet with the top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanti, noting that the visit has already been scheduled before the outbreak of the Mosul violence.

Iraqi Christians' murders condemned

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081014153936955903.html

October 14, 2008

Muslim scholars have spoken out against a spate of attacks against Christians in northern Iraq, after more than 12 members of the community were killed in recent weeks.

The condemnation from the Organistation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) came on Tuesday, as Iraq's government pledged to send officials to the ethnically mixed city of Mosul to investigate the attacks.

Over a thousand Christians are said to have fled their homes in Mosul in recent days.

Prompted by the violence, the Iraqi government has already sent more than 1,000 police personnel to Mosul.

Major-General Ali Ghaidan, commander of Iraqi ground forces, said the fruits of the recent crackdown would soon be visible, attributing the exodus to "media exaggeration that gave rise to fear and horror among these families ... even if no threat was received".