The death toll from anti-Yazidi attacks in northern Iraq is rising and might reach 500. Sources warn AsiaNews that Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain are at risk. The area is currently controlled by Wahhabi extremists since there is no presence of US or Iraqi troops. In a climate of growing insecurity 40 children in Kirkuk receive their first communion on the day of the Assumption of Our Lady.
Mosul (AsiaNews) – The death toll from Tuesday’s bomb attacks against Yazidi villages near Mosul might reach as high as 500. Provincial authorities in Nineveh province fear that in addition to those already accounted for, another 200 people might still be buried in the rubbles left by deadly truck bombings. Sources in Iraq warn AsiaNews that the multiple attacks are part of a wider plan that is likely to target Christian villages in the Nineveh plain very soon.
The bombings in Qataniya, Adnaniya, al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair are the deadliest since the war began in 2003. The coordinated operation involved five trucks filled with explosives that killed more than 250 people and hurt another 350, this according to official preliminary figures.
US army sources said that it is too soon to know who was behind the blasts but the scope and apparent coordination involved point the finger at Sunni-dominated al-Qaeda.
“This is an act of ‘ethnic cleansing’,” said Major-General Benjamin Mixon, the commander of US forces in northern Iraq.
Iraqi political leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shia, and President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, condemned the “heinous” attacks and ordered an investigation.
The Kurdistan Regional Government condemned "the cowardly and barbaric attack against innocent civilians of this tolerant religious minority".
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also slammed the bombings in Iraq.
Now the attention is turning to the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain.
Sources in Mosul that requested anonymity for security reasons told AsiaNews that the bombings against the Yazidis are “part of a broad plan elaborated by Wahhabi extremists who now control the area to eliminate all those elements that might be in their way as they pursue their goals, namely an Islamic state and the caliphate.
“They began with Shias and Christians in Mosul,” the source said.” Now it is the turn of the Yazidis who mostly live in these villages west of the city.”
There are fears though that “tomorrow it will happen to the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain, where there is no US or Iraqi army presence to speak of.”
The area is already in the hands of extremists who have infiltrated the police and the national army. “Everything has been studied and prepared with the backing of foreign countries,” the sources said.
The villages at risk are located between Qaraqosh and al-Qosh. Some 6,110 Christian families have arrived from Baghdad and Mosul and now live in the ten or so villages. However, it is estimated that about 70 per cent of the population in the diocese have abandoned their homes with most churches now lying empty.
As a result of the weakness of the al-Maliki government, now involved in trying to survive its latest cabinet crisis, Baghdad authorities are virtually absent from the area.
“Even a revived UN mission will not bring peace,” the sources told AsiaNews. “Only true reconciliation between Iraqis can help the country.”
In the mist of the growing insecurity and uncertainty the decimated Christian community continues to pray for “peace”.
Chaldean Christians yesterday prayed in a church in Kirkuk where Archbishop Louis Sako celebrated mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady.
On this occasion, very important for the Chaldean Church, 40 children received their first communion.
Mosul (AsiaNews) – The death toll from Tuesday’s bomb attacks against Yazidi villages near Mosul might reach as high as 500. Provincial authorities in Nineveh province fear that in addition to those already accounted for, another 200 people might still be buried in the rubbles left by deadly truck bombings. Sources in Iraq warn AsiaNews that the multiple attacks are part of a wider plan that is likely to target Christian villages in the Nineveh plain very soon.
The bombings in Qataniya, Adnaniya, al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair are the deadliest since the war began in 2003. The coordinated operation involved five trucks filled with explosives that killed more than 250 people and hurt another 350, this according to official preliminary figures.
US army sources said that it is too soon to know who was behind the blasts but the scope and apparent coordination involved point the finger at Sunni-dominated al-Qaeda.
“This is an act of ‘ethnic cleansing’,” said Major-General Benjamin Mixon, the commander of US forces in northern Iraq.
Iraqi political leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shia, and President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, condemned the “heinous” attacks and ordered an investigation.
The Kurdistan Regional Government condemned "the cowardly and barbaric attack against innocent civilians of this tolerant religious minority".
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also slammed the bombings in Iraq.
Now the attention is turning to the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain.
Sources in Mosul that requested anonymity for security reasons told AsiaNews that the bombings against the Yazidis are “part of a broad plan elaborated by Wahhabi extremists who now control the area to eliminate all those elements that might be in their way as they pursue their goals, namely an Islamic state and the caliphate.
“They began with Shias and Christians in Mosul,” the source said.” Now it is the turn of the Yazidis who mostly live in these villages west of the city.”
There are fears though that “tomorrow it will happen to the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain, where there is no US or Iraqi army presence to speak of.”
The area is already in the hands of extremists who have infiltrated the police and the national army. “Everything has been studied and prepared with the backing of foreign countries,” the sources said.
The villages at risk are located between Qaraqosh and al-Qosh. Some 6,110 Christian families have arrived from Baghdad and Mosul and now live in the ten or so villages. However, it is estimated that about 70 per cent of the population in the diocese have abandoned their homes with most churches now lying empty.
As a result of the weakness of the al-Maliki government, now involved in trying to survive its latest cabinet crisis, Baghdad authorities are virtually absent from the area.
“Even a revived UN mission will not bring peace,” the sources told AsiaNews. “Only true reconciliation between Iraqis can help the country.”
In the mist of the growing insecurity and uncertainty the decimated Christian community continues to pray for “peace”.
Chaldean Christians yesterday prayed in a church in Kirkuk where Archbishop Louis Sako celebrated mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady.
On this occasion, very important for the Chaldean Church, 40 children received their first communion.
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1 comment:
When Sunday comes!
I heard a story recently where an Iraqi Christian was out with some friends at an Arabic restaurant in the United States and during the evening a singer came on stage and sang an old traditional Iraqi song about the southern Iraqi city of Basrah. The person who told me the story noticed an old man sitting on his own at a table near by and while singing the song he was in tears so my friend approached him and asked him if he was OK? At that point the old man looked up with tears rolling down and when he spoke he had the very strong accent of the southern city of Basrah. He explained to my friend that in the late 1940s he and his family were forced to flee and he eventually settled in the United States and that even though he was a child when he left his beloved Basrah and has not been back since he can never forget it. My friend asked him why he left and why he had never been back. The old man sighed and explained that his name is David (Dawood, in Arabic) and that he is an Iraqi Jew (Iraqi Jews were forced to leave Iraq in the late 1940s upon the creation of the State of Israel when the local Muslim people rose against them and the government at the time turned a blind eye, it sounds familiar!). At that point my friend explained that he was an Iraqi Christian and the two began talking and towards the end of the evening the old man turned to my friend and said, you know in the forties while we were being “cleansed” from Iraq the local Muslim people would say that today we got rid of the sons of David and tomorrow we will get rid of the followers of Jesus. The old man said that while his dad was saying his goodbyes to his Christian neighbour and just before his father and the family left their home for the last time he turned to his Christian friend and said “today is Saturday and they have kicked us out of our homes because we are Jews beware my friend when Sunday comes then it will be your turn!”
Well sadly Sunday has come for all Iraqi non Muslim minorities and the barbaric massacre of the Yazidi people was one such incident. It is rather disingenuous by western political commentators to describe the latest massacre as a “desperate” act by AlQida. I can not see what else people have to go through in terms of suffering before people describe this as ethnic cleansing.
The plan for the AlQida and other Islamic extremist organisations is to turn Iraq into the new Afghanistan the British army is already being pulled out of Iraq and moved into Afghanistan because in Iraq the feeling is in some circles is that the “War is lost” so it is better to concentrate on saving Afghanistan. I sincerely hope and wish that Afghanistan is saved and that the people of Afghanistan have a better quality of life and a peaceful life but please remember it is the duty of those who choose to fight this war against Iraq freely to put things right and not just to walk away and wash their hands. Iraq was not always full of extremist in our history there were difficulties throughout but people of different faiths lived side by side in harmony and in peace for centuries. The danger here is that the more you give to extremist the bolder that they will get and the more that they will expect and want to trying to appease them will not work, EVER.
I am amazed at the ignorance that is displayed by leaders in the West to the threat that they are facing, it is truly criminal and yet despite the atrocities of Madrid, London, New York and many other places the politicians and even some Christian religious leaders think that by simply building a Mosque here and letting people wear the Hijab there then we will be safe!! The extremist want life to be run their way or no way they will kill even their family members if they did not agree with them, they kill more Muslims in Iraq than non-Muslims, wake up please if you think that you are safe then you are wrong. The intelligence services despite their best effort can not keep us safe always and the sad thing will be is the erosion of our civil liberties and our way of life because of the barbaric action of the few and the criminalisation of all Muslims including the many who are peaceful and law abiding (and I know many who are). Please stop pandering to the whims of the few and protect your way of life, the capital of England should not be for ever known by some as Londonistan.
The plan now by the extremist is turn Iraq into their new training ground, Iraq will be the place where they will launch their attacks on other parts of the world including the West. Leaving Iraq today will not save you in the future. I wish that they (Bush and Blair) had not started this war but we are where we are and therefore the job is not even half finished. Cutting and running is a mistake that will also affect decent peaceful law abiding (yes there are many still law abiding citizens) left in Iraq. If Iraq is left in its current state then the children of Iraq who have been brutalised will grow up to become brutal. I first of all hope that all Iraqis regardless of their ethnic or religious origin can live in a peaceful, democratic and stable Iraq. I currently do not hold much hope of that happening anytime soon. There are many Muslim people who are also stuck in the middle and terrorised. While I was surfing the internet recently I cam across the following website which has a fantastic clip while it is fictional in this instant it is nevertheless happening every day for real in Iraq. If you have the time please check it out (http://www.noterror.info/index.aspx) then click on the picture with the “on air campaign” please be aware it contains simulated violence. In it the "bad guy" asks time and again the hostage "are you Sunni or Shia" and eventually the man answers "Iraqi".
I am a Christian and proud of it but I am also originally from Iraq and proud of that too. I cried for joy when on the 29/7/2007 the Iraqi football team won the Asia cup against all the odds and ALL Iraqis regardless of their background celebrated all around the world. It was a sign that we are not as divided as our evil politician would have you believe.
I am a father and my son is 7 years old and recently an Iraqi man about my own age buried his son who looks about my son’s age for the crime of walking the street while the terrorist were setting off a bomb to kill ANYONE in order to terrorise and fright ordinary people (http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3946/Photo_of_the_Day_A_Fathers_Heartbreak)
I just want people to understand that I want peace in my homeland for everyone I do not care what the religion is I just want Iraq to live in peace. I am so sad that we ended up with such corrupt and failed politicians who in the summer have decided to go on a month’s holiday while ordinary Iraqis have no electricity (temperatures reaches 50C or 120F) no water and no security. They go on holiday while multinational soldiers are dying in the streets of Iraq and they go abroad when Iraqis can not even leave their homes. Shame on them our so called politicians! Please pray for Iraq. This comment started to highlight what I believe is the plan by the terrorist who want to turn Iraq into an dark age, ultra extremist Islamic country but it has ended by me expressing my frustration at the corrupt and failed Iraqi politicians and the miserable state of the whole of the Iraqi society regardless of the religious or ethnic background. Thank you for your time and sorry about the long message and PLEASE PRAY FOR IRAQ. Please pray that your leaders appreciate the threat to your way of life and to your Christian values.
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