BAGHDAD — New violence against Christians in the northern city of Mosul has sparked an outcry from Iraq's religious minority. In the last week, local officials said, many Christian families have fled the city after coming under attack from Sunni Arab militants.
Christians have been targeted along with other sects and ethnic groups since 2003. More than 900 Christian families have fled Mosul in the last week, said Jawdat Ismail, the director of the Ministry of Displacement and Migration in Nineveh province.
Iraq's Defense Ministry was more cautious about the displacements. A ministry spokesman, Mohammed Askari, told the U.S.-funded Al Hurra satellite TV news channel that the ministry believed Christian families had left the city.
Nineveh, whose capital is Mosul, has been a frontline in the simmering conflict between Kurds and Arabs over northern Iraq's future boundaries. The tensions have helped fuel violence that has targeted Christians, along with members of other ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Shabaks and Yazidis. Sunni Arabs also have been targeted in the violence.
