3,000 Christians flee Mosul 'killing campaign'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape Sunni extremist attacks that have increased despite months of US and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, local officials said Saturday. The governor of northern Iraq's Ninevah province, Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, said some 3,000 Christians have fled Mosul over the past week alone in what he called a "major displacement." He said most have left for churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in nearby Christian villages and towns. "Of course al-Qaida elements are behind this campaign against Christians," Kashmoula said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He called on the government to launch a fresh military offensive to chase al-Qaida in Iraq from his province, as the government has done elsewhere in the country. While the Christian community in Iraq's third-largest city has previously been targeted, local religious and political leaders say a new trend is emerging of assassinations and forced displacement based solely on religion.