Region | Iraq
Christians target of Al Qaida attacks
The city of Mosul has witnessed a wave of assassinations by Al Qaida operatives targeting mainly the Christian minority in the past week.
- By Basil Adas, Correspondent
- Published: 23:29 October 11, 2008
Baghdad: The city of Mosul has witnessed a wave of assassinations by Al Qaida operatives targeting mainly the Christian minority in the past week.
Al Qaida activists have been sneaking into Iraq from across the Syrian border, Brigadier General Khalid Abdul Sattar, director of operations in Mosul city, told Gulf News. The army has been carrying out daily operations to pursue the extremists entering Iraq's northern Nineveh province.
Currently there are about 300 displaced Christian families who have fled to the Tallkayf district.
"The extremists' goal behind such actions is to disrupt the social fabric of the city of Mosul, where Christians and Muslims have peacefully coexisted for thousands of years," Basim Ballo, a member of a local council in the district of Tallkayf told Gulf News.
"This matter is causing a humanitarian tragedy and most displaced do not have houses to stay and we have asked for help from the Iraqi government and some international organisations," Lewis Marcos, a member of a local council of the Al Hamdaniya district, told Gulf News.
Approximately 200,000 Christians live in the city of Mosul.
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