Anguish in Mosul: Iraqi Christians displaced and murdered

Anti-Christian violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has intensified alarmingly in recent months. In February eight Christians were murdered in the space of ten days.

Iraqi Christian Zia Toma (21) was gunned down and killed at a bus stop on his way to university in Mosul

On Sunday 14 Rayan Salem Elias was killed outside his home by armed assailants, and the next day a Christian greengrocer, Fatukhi Munir, was gunned down in his shop in a drive-by shooting. Then on Tuesday 16 two Christian students, Zia Toma (21) and Ramsin Shmael (22), were on their way to the local university when gunmen opened fire on them. Zia was killed and Ramsin wounded. They had already been displaced from their homes in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, by the instability there.

On Wednesday 17 Wissam George (20), another student, went missing on his way to the institute where he was studying to be a teacher. His body was found in the street that afternoon, riddled with bullets. On Friday 19 Sabah Yacob Dahan was found murdered, having been abducted from his shop five days earlier. And on Wednesday 24 Aiechoa Metoka and his two sons, Mukhlos and Basem, were killed in their home by three gunmen. They were the father and brothers of a prominent Christian leader, who was himself kidnapped (and later released) two years ago.

Yet more Christians fleeing Mosul

These attacks are only the latest in a long series of incidents that have spread terror among the Christian population of Mosul. They bring to twelve the number of Christians killed in the city since December, and seven bomb attacks on Christian targets have left many injured and property damaged.

Over 300 families have recently fled from the city into the relative safety of the Christian townships in the Nineveh Plain. Some Christians struggle to escape because they are poor and do not have cars, and many taxi drivers are too afraid to provide transport for them.

Approaching elections

Church leaders are concerned that the anti-Christian hostility is being fuelled by the approach of national elections on 7 March. They believe that the intention of the militants is to drive Christians out of Mosul altogether, and they are dissatisfied with the protection provided by the authorities. “We don’t want elections, we don’t want our rights, we just want to be alive,” said one leader.

“We just want to live in peace in our country”

A senior figure in the Church in Baghdad pleaded for an end to the murder of Christians. “Help us to continue to bear witness to the Gospel as we have done for centuries,” he said. “The Iraqi Christian community must not die. We Christians are innocent victims. We never hurt anybody; we just want to live in peace in our country.”

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