Release International

Radical Muslims have launched a terror campaign against Christians in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq – killing believers, bombing their homes and forcing thousands to flee.

The World Council of Churches reports that 14 Christians have been killed so far. Armed militants have been storming homes and warning Christians they will be killed unless they leave Mosul. Some reports say that Christians have been sent leaflets demanding that they convert to Islam or pay a jizya tax that would make them second-class citizens.

The violence broke out in Mosul, 225 miles north-west of Baghdad, in late-September. Hundreds of Christians had taken to the city’s streets to demand adequate representation for minority groups on provincial councils in elections due to be held by the end of January.

Christian satellite TV station SAT-7, which broadcasts into the Middle East, says it has had urgent text messages from Mosul Christians asking for prayer. ‘Please pray for Christians in Iraq because they are killing all the Christians that are walking in Mosul,’ one read.

On October 12, a Christian music store owner, Farques Batool, was murdered in a drive-by shooting near his house in Kazraj district. His nephew was injured in the attack. Farques’ family has since fled the city, leaving his wounded nephew in hospital. The bullet-ridden bodies of several other Christians have been found in recent weeks.

According to the BBC, police reinforcements, sent in by central government, have set up checkpoints at churches in the four main Christian districts of the city. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has vowed to protect Christians in Mosul – widely considered to be the last urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

(Sources: Assist News Service, BBC, CNN, International Christian Concern, SAT-7, The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, World Council of Churches)

Ask God to protect and comfort Christians in Mosul amid the violence.

Pray that the authorities will do more to protect minority groups’ human rights, including freedom of worship and their right to political representation.

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