Iraqi group urges end of campaign against Christians in Mosul

Oct 11, 2008, 9:57 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi Council for Minorities (ICM) on Saturday called on political powers in Iraq to take urgent and extraordinary measures to protect Christians in the northern city of Mosul.

The call comes amid reports that hundreds of Christians are fleeing the city after what appears to be a string of murderous attacks that are targeting them.

An Iraqi military source said that four Christians were killed on Friday in two separate attacks in Mosul, documenting a rising wave of attacks against the religious minority in the volatile northern city.

At least 11 Christians have been killed in Mosul since the end of August, according to government officials and humanitarian groups.

Media sources of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in Ninewa province said that some 40 Christian families had fled the provincial capital Mosul on Friday, bringing the number of Christian families who fled the city over the past three days to 295.

The ICM charged that the attacks against Christians 'only serves a foreign plot' aimed at disrupting Iraqi society with its different religions, ethnic groups and minorities.

The rise in the attacks has taken place a the same time that Christian groups have staged major demonstrations protesting the removal of Article 50 of the provincial elections law, which passed through the Iraqi parliament last week.

The article had guaranteed Christians certain rights of representation in local assemblies.

Iraqi Christians are one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

A Ninewa province emigrants' affairs official said that a crisis management team had been set up to deal with the Christian families displaced during the past few days from different parts of Mosul due to the threats they received.