Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled the city of Mosul in northern Iraq during early October, after Sunni Muslim extremists launched a deadly campaign to remove the Christian community from the city.
‘We left everything behind us. We took only our souls’, said Ni’ma Noail (50), a civil servant who had to abandon his home in Mosul and is now living in a church.
Seven murdered
At least seven Christians were murdered between October 4 and 8, killed execution-style by gunmen. Other estimates suggest the number of Christians killed is as high as 25 or even 40. Christian houses have been blown up and at least 744 Christian families (approximately 3,750 people) have left their homes to find refuge with relatives or in churches and Christian centres in seven towns and villages to the north and east of Mosul. Some were sleeping in their cars. They are in desperate need of food, clothes, bedding, items for personal hygiene and other basic necessities.
