Persecution in Iraq

At least seven Christians were murdered between October 4 and 8, 2008—killed execution-style by gunmen, according to Barnabas Fund. A Christian music storeowner was shot to death in Mosul, Iraq on October 13, 2008, the Associated Press reported.
Officials in Mosul have told the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) that the number of Assyrians driven out of Mosul in the past two weeks has risen to 15,000, or about 2,500 families, Assist News Service (ANS) reported.
“We left everything behind us. We took only our souls,” Ni’ma Noail, 50, a civil servant who had to abandon his home in Mosul and is now living in a church, told Barnabas Fund.
An AINA spokesperson told ANS that “threats, intimidation and murder by unidentified groups have instilled fear and panic in the Christian Assyrian community, causing a massive exodus into the Assyrian villages in the Nineveh Plain. Thirteen Assyrians have been killed in the past four weeks. … Notes have been left instructing the Assyrians to leave the city immediately or face reprisal.
“It is not clear who is behind the campaign against Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs),” the AINA spokesperson added. “Some suspect Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, but a spokesman for Iraq’s Interior Ministry said there is no evidence to support this. An Iraqi member of parliament has accused the Kurds of orchestrating the campaign to shift the demographic balance of Mosul in their favor.”
The latest violence against Assyrians in Mosul continues a pattern that began on June 26, 2004 with the first bombings of Assyrian churches, ANS reported. Since then, Baghdad has been nearly emptied of Assyrians and it is estimated that 30-50% of Assyrians have fled to Jordan and Syria.
Northern Iraq is the historic center of Christianity in Iraq. Many Christians from Baghdad and Basra had fled to the north for safety in recent years. The estimated Christian population of Mosul is now 50,000, Barnabas Fund said. Five years ago, Mosul had almost 200,000 Christians, Open Doors said.