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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Iraqi Christians flee Mosul under threat

Islamist militants tightening their grip

Civilians inspect the site of a bomb attack in the Jihad neighborhood in Baghdad on Saturday, after a series of bombings killed and wounded dozens of people. (Associated Press)
Sameer N. Yacoub Associated Press

BAGHDAD – The message played over loudspeakers gave the Christians of Iraq’s second-largest city until midday Saturday to make a choice: convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death.

By the time the deadline imposed by the Islamic State extremist group expired, the vast majority of Christians in Mosul had made their decision. They fled.

They clambered into cars – children, parents, grandparents – and headed for the largely autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq or other areas protected by the Kurdish security forces. Their departure marks the latest – and perhaps final – exodus of Christians from the city, emptying out communities that date back to the first centuries of Christianity, including Chaldean, Assyrian and Armenian churches.

Iraq was home to an estimated 1 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Since then, militants have frequently targeted Christians across the country, bombing their churches and killing clergymen. Under such pressures, many Christians have left the country. Church officials now put the community at around 450,000.

Most of Mosul’s remaining Christians fled when the Islamic State group and an array of other Sunni militants captured the city on June 10 – the opening move in the insurgents’ blitz across northern and western Iraq. As a religious minority, Christians were wary of how they would be treated by hard-line Islamic militants.

For those Christians who remained in the city, the order first made over loudspeakers on Thursday and later in leaflets passed out on the streets made clear their new status.

“When the Islamic State people took over Mosul weeks ago, they were nice to us at first and they used to knock on our door and tell us that they mean no harm to the Christians in Mosul and they even gave us a mobile number just in case we are offended by anybody,” Sahir Yahya, a Christian and government employee from Mosul, said Saturday. “This changed two days ago. The Islamic State people revealed their true savage nature and intention.”

Yahya fled with her husband and two sons on Friday to the town of Qaraqoush.

The Islamic State group has vowed to continue its offensive on to Baghdad, although it appears to have crested for now after overrunning Iraq’s predominantly Sunni areas. But the capital, while largely calm after a few weeks of panic, has not remained immune from the crisis.

On Saturday, a series of bombings, including three over a span of less than 10 minutes, killed at least 27 people, police officials said. The attacks, which hit the neighborhoods of Abu Dashir, Baiyaa, Jihad and Khazimiyah, are among the most significant in the capital since the militant campaign began.

Northwest of Tikrit, heavy fighting has raged around an air base that previously served as a U.S. military facility known as Camp Speicher.

On Saturday, Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi denied reports that militants had captured the base, saying government troops repelled an attack on Friday and the air field remains under government control.

Meanwhile in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah, Iraq’s ailing president, Jalal Talabani, returned to the country after more than 18 months abroad, state television said.