| Violence in Mosul Forces Iraqi Christians to Flee |
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Iraqi Christian leaders said Friday that the killings in Mosul might be tied to protests demanding a semiautonomous provinceBaghdad, Oct.11.— Hundreds of Christians are fleeing Mosul in the wake of a string of killings that appear to be singling out Christians in the northern Iraqi city, where many had taken refuge from persecution in other parts of the country. As many as 14 Christians have been killed in Mosul since the end of August, according to government officials and humanitarian groups. The victims have included a doctor, an engineer, two builders, two businessmen and a 15-year-old boy, who was shot dead in front of his house. In the last week alone, seven Christians were killed. On Friday, a pharmacist was shot to death by a man who pretended to be an undercover police officer and asked for the man’s identification card, said Khisroo Koran, deputy governor of Nineveh Province, which is in northern Iraq. Mosul is the province’s capital. Louis Sako, the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Kirkuk, said Friday that the killings were an example of “a campaign of cleansing, killing and threatening” that Christians faced in Iraq. ... Christians have held demonstrations to protest the Parliament’s action in Baghdad and in Nineveh Province — where about 250,000 Christians live, about 50,000 of them in Mosul. At one demonstration in Nineveh, protesters held up signs demanding the creation of a 19th province governed by Christians that would be linked to the Kurdish region in the north ... [ Full text ] |
